Dr,s Diary from Iraq

[k hanly <khanly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dr. Geert Van Moorter, from the Belgian NGO Medical Aid for the Third World=
 (www.g3w.be)  on a mission in Iraq for www.intal.be, tells how he experien=
ced the bomb attack on the Mount Lebanon Hotel.



A little after 8 pm we hear an enormous explosion and feel the vibrations t=
hrough the air. Behind the mosque, at the square where the statue of Saddam=
 was toppled on April 9, a plum of smoke is rising up. We see flames. We sp=
eed to the place of the incident in a taxi. Chaos. People blocking each oth=
er's way. The first ambulances have already left. The fire brigades are try=
ing to extinguish the fires. An oil drum is on fire, several cars and the h=
ouses around it also. People are looking for survivors in the debris. I ask=
 an Iraqi policeman whether a medical outpost has been set up and if I can =
be of help. He doesn't know, but Marc, who is a volunteer with the Red Cros=
s, and me are still allowed to proceed, while others are pushed away. We ca=
nnot find the medical outpost. A little later American soldiers arrive. I w=
onder how they can be of help. A US soldier shouts at me that I have to go.=
 I tell him: "I am an emergency doctor, I am checking if I can help." He pu=
shes me away roughly and says that I have to go. I persist, after which he =
shouts: "Show me your card". I give him my ID of Medical Aid for the Third =
World with my picture on it. He looks at it scornfully and throws it away, =
on the ground. "We do not need your help." I can't believe it and say: "Is =
that the American way of helping people? I did not come here for you, but f=
or the victims." He again: "I advice you, if you go one step further, I hav=
e you arrested." In the meanwhile four soldiers have gathered around me. I =
feel that they are very tense, so I retreat, but internally I am boiling. S=
uch arrogance, such an impoliteness, unbelievable. Whether the Iraqi victim=
s need care or not, is not of their concern. A higher officer has been brou=
ght up. I think that I will be arrested. Okay, they just go ahead. Dammed, =
they are not going to prohibit me to help?! The officer gives a sign that I=
 have to come with him. I still do not know whether I will be arrested or n=
ot. But even without asking for my ID he brings me to the nearby hospital. =
Whew.



Medical supplies? "Maku"., "none"..



They want to evacuate the hospital. An Iraqi colleague, himself wounded at =
his leg, asks me if I can bring a patient to the Nafez Hospital. He has jus=
t been operated on the stomach. Marc and me enter the ambulance together wi=
th the patient and his family. I still know the Nafez Hospital from April l=
ast year. Just when the US soldiers had shot themselves an entrance into th=
e city, we tried to bring two wounded persons there. The ambulance was bein=
g shot at by the GI's (US soldiers), and the two young men died from their =
injuries.

Arrived at the Nafez Hospital, I start to help with the first aid of a numb=
er of wounded patients. I ask for gloves. "Maku"' is the answer, which mean=
s "none". Bandages are also hardly available. I bandage the wounded arm of =
George, an Iraqi patient, with his own shirt. He speaks a little English, s=
o it is easier for me to try to calm him down. He is injured on his ear, ha=
s bruises on his ribs, and on the back of his head a bleeding wound. He has=
 inclinations towards vomiting and tends to faint. His blood pressure drops=
. I ask for plasma expanders. This is the intravenous liquid to compensate =
the loss of blood and to increase the blood pressure. "Maku". I want to giv=
e him something against vomiting: "Maku". An emergency department that has =
none of these supplies!

In the four hospitals I visited until now there has been no improvement in =
medical equipment over the past year, and everywhere materials are lacking.=
 And this in a situation that was already disastrous because of the 13 year=
s of embargo. Now, after the downfall of the regime of Saddam, the sanction=
s have been lifted, and still nothing has improved in the medical field. Th=
e old equipment is yet one year older, and a number of equipment has broken=
 down in the meanwhile. And for the rest there is a lot of "maku".

I inquire for the number of victims in this hospital. Two patients were bro=
ught in who were dead on arrival. Two others were referred elsewhere for ne=
urosurgery. Then there are still eleven less seriously injured. I handle th=
e two English speaking. Jihad is a Lebanese who stays in the Mount Lebanon =
Hotel. He has wounds in his face and on his ear, but it is not too serious.=
 An Iraqi nurse disinfects these with a piece of cotton. Marc is already wa=
iting with the garbage can, but the piece of cotton still has to serve for =
other wounds, otherwise it is later also "maku" with cotton. George has to =
be kept awake: he tends to faint constantly. I let the intravenous liquid r=
un inside. Than to the X-ray department. It is an old piece of equipment, b=
ut luckily it still functions. In the meanwhile I continue talking to Georg=
e, slap him on the cheeks in order to keep him awake. I ask him if he knows=
 where he is. "In hell", is his answer. "Then I am the devil", I say to him=
, and he has to laugh. That is a good sign. But in Belgium this guy would g=
o in the scanner for a comprehensive check-up. Here the scanner is "maku". =
It is eleven-thirty and Marc and I think that it is safer to return to the =
hotel. The families thank us. I say that we have to thank them that we were=
 able to help them. It is always greater to be able to help than to be help=
ed.



Freedom?



We cannot find any taxi outside, but a helpful Iraqi is willing to bring us=
 back, for free. He still has worked for a while in the American army, as i=
nterpreter. But he quit. "They are crazy, those Americans." A little furthe=
r we are not allowed to proceed at a checkpoint. The driver shows something=
, and than he can proceed. "Easy, you just show something with an American =
flag on it!" It is a case of the US army with a card in it with the driver'=
s picture. On the case are the flags of the US, Great Britain and Australia=
, with the text "Operation Iraqi Freedom". In the meanwhile shooting is tak=
en place again outside. Iraqi freedom? The 'freedom' not to get appropriate=
 medical care, the 'freedom' to get laid off, the 'freedom of speech' as lo=
ng as you say the right things,.. Above all, it is the 'American freedom' t=
o control the oil, to shoot at whom and when they want, to stop a doctor, .=
 What is the future of this country?