Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Health Ministry struggles to deliver services due to violence
Security, Health
(Azzaman) - The Ministry of Health faces serious problems in efforts to deliver services to areas hit by violence and military operations, according to Health Minister Hussein al-Shamari. The minister said most of restive areas in Iraq were almost beyond his ministry’s reach. The lack of medicine and deterioration of health services in these places is due to continuing violence rather than lack of resources, he said.
Shamari said he had made a field hospital available to head for the violent-plagued town of Tal Afar nearly three months ago. “The ministry is still facing problems stationing the field hospital in the city despite promises of assistance from the Defense Ministry,” Shamari said. The failure of the ministry to work properly in restive areas means most of the country, apart from the Kurdish north, is suffering.
Shamari said he had made a field hospital available to head for the violent-plagued town of Tal Afar nearly three months ago. “The ministry is still facing problems stationing the field hospital in the city despite promises of assistance from the Defense Ministry,” Shamari said. The failure of the ministry to work properly in restive areas means most of the country, apart from the Kurdish north, is suffering.
Baghdad, home to nearly six million people, as well as Mosul, the country’s second largest city are among the most violent places in the country. Tal Afar, a sizeable town west of Mosul and home to more than 350,000 people is a frequent scene of massive and devastating car bomb attacks targeting densely populated areas. Violence is not restricted to central Iraq. Conditions are worsening in several cities and towns in the south.
Shamari said insurgents and armed groups target his ministry’s staff and convoys carrying medicine and equipment to hospitals across the country. Scores of Iraqi doctors have been killed and many kidnapped for ransom since the 2003 U.S. invasion, forcing many of them to flee the country. Shamari said three vehicles laden with drugs and equipment to treat and fight cancer were looted and the drivers kidnapped recently.
Shamari said insurgents and armed groups target his ministry’s staff and convoys carrying medicine and equipment to hospitals across the country. Scores of Iraqi doctors have been killed and many kidnapped for ransom since the 2003 U.S. invasion, forcing many of them to flee the country. Shamari said three vehicles laden with drugs and equipment to treat and fight cancer were looted and the drivers kidnapped recently.
Labels: health, Hussein al-Shamari, Ministry of Health, violence
