Posted By: Marla B.
We’ve just finished interviewing several doctors – from a psychiatrist to a head and neck trauma specialist to a dermatologist. None of the doctors wanted to on video because they all were worried about the situation for their families back in Iraq and as a precaution if they decided to return one day. But they each told us the same thing: there are no medical specialists left in Iraq.
When militias started becoming prevalent in Iraq there were certain groups specifically targeted by their violence. Professors, doctors, anyone who worked or cooperated with Americans and artists among them. Many of these people, or those with the financial means, left Iraq early on for Jordan or other countries. This ‘brain drain’ (dubbed as such by the Western media) wreaked havoc on the hospitals in particular, leaving them without proper capacity to treat the victims streaming in every day.
One of the doctors told us about his time working in one of Baghdad’s busiest hospitals. Chief among the points he made was the lack of appropriate supplies – from the sophisticated equipment to something as rudimentary as the correct type of sutures for his patients.
