The battle to save Iraq's children

[cal04]

Doctors issue plea to Tony Blair to end the scandal of medical shortages in the war zone
The desperate plight of children who are dying in Iraqi hospitals for the lack of simple equipment that in some cases can cost as little as 95p is revealed today in a letter signed by nearly 100 eminent doctors.

They are backed by a group of international lawyers, who say the conditions in hospitals revealed in their letter amount to a breach of the Geneva conventions that require Britain and the US as occupying forces to protect human life.

In a direct appeal to Tony Blair, the doctors describe desperate shortages causing "hundreds" of children to die in hospitals. The signatories include Iraqi doctors, British doctors who have worked in Iraqi hospitals, and leading UK consultants and GPs.

"Sick or injured children who could otherwise be treated by simple means are left to die in hundreds because they do not have access to basic medicines or other resources," the doctors say. "Children who have lost hands, feet and limbs are left without prostheses. Children with grave psychological distress are left untreated," they add.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2165470.ece

[Briar]

1. A shameful state of affairs

which shows up the hollowness of the US/UK's claim to be acting for humanitarian reasons and their contempt for the Geneva Conventions.

The actual letter is quoted here:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2165471.ece