go backWelcome!
I hope that you can have your time to see the tragedy from the field. And i hope you didn't have too much trouble with this long road and journey through very difficult transport and you know that our airspace is being still bombarded all the time and civil residents being still bombarded until this moment.
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[Hospital was bombarded in December 1998] There was a combat which lasted more than four nights. And cracks being ... to our ... in the wall and even in the windows and some of the doors being fallen down. And the ceilings we do our best and many of our collegues and our friends and weather through the LIFE organization and people from the Voices of the Wilderness they really support us.
Since the start of the sanctions in 1990 we have noticed many of the cases emerging and newly diagnosed suffering from childhood leukemia and we have a unique unit here in that hospital. [worst leukemia children] among them the mortality rate per day in this hospital exceeds two children per day.
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The tragedy not because of the depleted uranium weapons being used against our people but the shortages are still although through the resolution 986 we haven't covered our real requirements as are the medicines and the equipments necessary for really treating the sufferings of our patients in this hospital. This is a teaching hospital, a central hospital in the capital and you can imagine what's going on in the rural areas or in the far distant governorates. But in the middle of Baghdad and as a teaching hospital and very experts are here many on forward positions are graduated from U.K. and from U.S.A. and they are expert enough to deal with the cases but they are in really restricted with the U.N. resolutions and the U.S. and British representatives in the 661 committee who all the time either cancel or delay the medical contract and we are facing the tragedy daily because of the high figure of mortality.
Just we can't offer our patients for example the advanced antibiotics for the real diseases they are suffering from like meningitis, which is really a desastrous disease. You can't recover without the right antibiotics at the right time for the right period and for the right dosages. You face a handicapped child. And this tragedy is still existing at this moment because of the political stances of the U.S. and British representatives in the 661 committee who cancel many of these medical contracts. And you know that without medicine even expert physicians wether he is graduated from U.K. or from U.S.A. or from Russia or from Egypt or from Iraq he will be unable to overcome simplest diseases. Because you know that now we are facing deathes among children suffering from gastritis, which is the simplest disease. And even from chest infections. So how we can deal with more desastrous diseases like leukemia and like meningitis or those who need kidney transplants and those with congenital anomalities and so on. So if you are not able to collect blood from donors although there are many donors because you are lacking the collecting box for blood products like blood or plasma you see you will find many difficulties to deal with cases like hemophilia cases.
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On many occasions we are lacking enough equipments and enough cerengase and enough cannulas and enough detergents i mean it is an unhealthy environment for dealing with cases who are being really seeking consultation from all parts of Iraq just for one reason that they are expecting to find expert people in this central pediatric hospital.
So you can imagine the crime which being still committed daily against our people and against our innocent children because of the political stances and this illegal and illegitimate 661 committee. And the crime is still being committed daily because of the continued bombardment by the aircraft - i mean because they are violating our airspace and we are not violating the airspace of Chicago, or Detroit []. We are still on our ground on our national space and we are really trying our best to [elevate] the sufferings of our children and our patients. So Mrs Albright - just a human look once in your life, for a moment only, and i think i hope the political stances of the U.S. administration will be more rational and logical to [elevate] the suffering as early as possible.
This is the situation from the field, from that hospital and i have every day deathes among our children here in the hospital. And i think any logical people can analyze what's going on, if we avoid the political stances of those criminals who are assisting on killing our children because of depriving them of the medicine and enough calories. Many of the malnourished children they can't resist diseases and i can tell you ensure you that transmissable diseases what we forget them before the 90s now emerging in very huge numbers. Typhoid and cholera and so on and poliomyelitis and many of these.
So we hope that your delegation can offer some of the human look and can change the stances of your citizens at least otherwise we hope that Mr Clinton or who will win the election ... we would like and we are looking forward for a human look for those innocent people who are still being killed daily ... we have patients we have children we have adults we have elderly people they are looking for just a tablet of the [onnial] to treat their diabetis militis. But yet they are suffering because they are lacking the simplest medicine for dealing with hypertension or those old diseases well known to the elderly and to the our children here they are seeking for anti [hotfilia] drugs and so on. So, the simplest antibiotics we are sometimes lacking and between now and then we support them with fifty percent of the dosages of whatever simple diseases they are carrying for example animonia or chest infection or gastrantrits or inner tract infection or skin infection and so on. You see that we try to [elevate] their suffering and we are doing our best but still the stances of the 661 committee insisting on committing this crime in one way or another. And you can judge what drugs can do. Are drugs weapons? And are we violating the Washington airspace? I think you can judge and you can see from the field what's going on here. We have patients and we have many of those children suffering a lot because of depriving them of enough nutrients and balanced diet and the medicines also. So the crime is still committed because of this illegal and illegitimate stances.
This hospital constists of really about 250 beds, we have a theatre ... and we have medical side deals with different system diseases and we have enough expert physicians for handling our patients and pulling off cases form all parts of Iraq even from the Kurdish area. ...
So we hope that the British and U.S administration try to behave as a human being once in their life.
Q: How long have you been director?
A: 9 years
Q: Since 1996, have you noticed any improvement?
A: Because of the 986 resolution we have been supported by about not more than 50% of our
requirements.