Iraq's healthcare in disarray with doctors and nurses fleeing abroad and child death rates soaring

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L16828588.htm

Iraq healthcare in disarray, report says 16 Jan 2008 07:05:04 GMT
Source: Reuters


By Luke Baker

LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Iraq's healthcare is in disarray with doctors and nurses fleeing abroad and child death rates soaring, according to a report on Wednesday.

Up to 75 percent of Iraq's doctors, pharmacists and nurses have left their jobs since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. More than half of those have emigrated, the report by health organisation Medact said.

"The health system is in disarray, not only because of the underlying security, but owing to the lack of an institutional framework, huge staff shortages, intermittent electricity, unsafe water supply and frequent violations of medical neutrality," the report, "Rehabilitation Under Fire", said.

Iraq has only around 9,000 doctors, giving a ratio of six doctors to every 10,000 people. By comparison, the ratio in Britain is 23 to every 10,000.

"Repeated failures to recognise the special status of health services and personnel in times of conflict have created an environment in which violations of the Geneva Conventions are common," Medact said.

It levelled particular criticism at the U.S. Defense Department which administered Iraq immediately after the invasion. It had pursued its own agenda on rebuilding the health sector, ignoring international practices, Medact said.

Of more than $18 billion assigned to Iraq's reconstruction, just 4 percent was set aside for healthcare.

[Double T]

1. bushco treats Iraqis like he does Americans when it comes to health care.

[Emillereid]

2. This is the kind of thing I want the Democratic candidates to be talking about.

[countryjake]

3. kick