Iraq: US and Allied Forces must Protect Medical Facilities and Ensure Safe Passage of Personnel by Physicians for Human Rights 6:25pm 11th Apr, 2003   April 9, 2003    US and Allied Forces Must Protect Medical Facilities and Ensure Safe Passage of Personnel and Supplies to Save Lives in Iraq    Physicians for Human Rights calls on the US and allied forces immediately to address the alarming rapid deterioration of the medical care situation in Baghdad and several other major Iraqi cities. Looting of hospitals and clinics, disabled electrical and water systems, and the inability of medical personnel to get to and from their posts are signs of a growing health disaster in many cities where fighting has been most intense. It is apparent that planning by US and allied forces for the safeguarding of medical care in Iraq during the conflict has been inadequate. With heavy fighting taking place in central Baghdad, medical relief organizations have reported the health situation there as well as in Basra to be critical.    Today, the killing in Baghdad of an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegate whose clearly marked vehicle was caught in the crossfire, and the subsequent suspension of ICRC operations in the city are only the latest threats to the ability of life-saving emergency humanitarian operations to function. PHR calls on the US and British military forces as the de facto powers in much of Iraq, to prioritize the protection of medical facilities and transports in the face of this crisis. This includes round-the-clock military protection of all major medical facilities.    The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has reported that hospitals in Baghdad are overwhelmed by the inflow of war-wounded patients and that essential emergency medical supplies and life-saving drugs are running dangerously low. Some hospitals are reported to have enough medical supplies to last only for another two days. Similar reports are emerging from Kirkuk and elsewhere. In Basra, British forces have failed to prevent looting of hospitals and other medical facilities, including the generator for a morgue. The ICRC in Basra also reports that due to looting only 4 of 8 water stations in that city are functioning. Lack of potable water across the country poses a grave risk of life-threatening water-borne disease. The inability to clean and sanitize medical equipment also poses serious health risks. US and allied forces should ensure the delivery of adequate medical supplies to the Iraqi people. Since medical supplies are running low in Iraq, the US and allied forces should take necessary measures to bring in required materials. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported a great deal of emergency surgical and medical supplies stocked in Jordan waiting to cross the border into Iraq.    US and allied forces must ensure the safe access of these essential supplies into Baghdad and other locations at the earliest possible opportunity.    Furthermore, the US and its allies should ensure the effective operation of hospitals and medical services. With power supply disrupted in Baghdad, hospitals and water treatment plants have been relying solely on back-up generators and thus are not able to function on normal capacity. One of Baghdad’s largest and most modern hospitals, for example, is unable to work more than six of its 27 operating theatres due to lack of power and water. Water shortages have also greatly affected the proper functioning of Baghdad’s hospitals. The security vacuum further affects the effective operation of medical services. The US and its allies should make it an urgent priority to ensure public safety and the proper working of hospitals and medical establishments. They must provide security personnel to prevent further looting and ransacking of health facilities and water and electrical systems. The US and allied forces must station military personnel outside of all water pumping stations and hospitals until the environment of lawlessness ends.    Physicians for Human Rights calls on the US and allied forces to: 1) provide security for health personnel to enable them to perform their professional responsibilities; 2) ensure immediate supply of medical resources to medical facilities in Iraq; 3) deploy US and allied medical personnel to assist in the treatment of the sick and wounded; 4) prevent looting and/or destruction of medical supplies and equipment, and 5) safeguard the provision of medical care and health infrastructure including a safe water supply and electricity to ensure the health and well-being of the Iraqi people.    All these actions must be carried out while the conflict continues. They cannot wait until hostilities cease.    (Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) promotes health by protecting human rights. As a member of the steering committee of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize)    Iraq: Humanitarian crisis looms because of breakdown of law and order, UN humanitarian agencies warn    HUMANITARIAN CRISIS LOOMS IN IRAQ BECAUSE OF BREAKDOWN OF LAW AND ORDER - UN    New York, Apr 9. 2003    United Nations relief agencies warned today that looting and the breakdown of law and order in Iraq threatened to unleash a humanitarian crisis as their operations were obstructed, and they called on the occupying military forces to afford the necessary security for their aid work to function.    The collapse of civilian authority in the two largest cities, Baghdad and Basra, must be addressed by the occupying military forces, which have responsibility under international humanitarian law to maintain a secure environment for the civilian population, a spokesman for the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq (UNHCOI) told the daily briefing in Amman, Jordan, on UN humanitarian activities.    The very difficult conditions in which Baghdad hospitals were now operating had been further exacerbated by the breakdown of law and order, which was preventing access to medical facilities by hospital staff and other essential service workers, David Wimhurst said.    Health workers, water treatment technicians and generator maintenance crews must be provided safe access to their places of work and the UN urged all parties to the conflict to guarantee access to medical facilities for all health and essential service, Mr. Wimhurst added. The longer the situation remained out of control, the more difficult it would be to start humanitarian relief operations, and the greater the delay in beginning the work of reconstruction.    Representatives of UN relief agencies echoed those concerns in their reports.    "Before this conflict took place, UNICEF (UN Children's Fund) had networks and systems inside Iraq that helped us achieve our life-saving vaccination campaigns, nutrition campaigns and work in education," UNICEF    Representative to Iraq Carel de Rooy said. "What is horribly worrying about the looting, chaos and breakdown of order is that those systems we counted on may completely disappear or collapse."    The World Food Programme (WFP) said it had undertaken to provide food for up to 27 million people - the entire Iraqi population - for a period of four months, a major enterprise for which its staff had been preparing the complex logistics for months.    "However, we need to operate in a safe environment in order to deliver food successfully," spokesman Maarten Roest said. "Unless law and order prevail, it would be extremely difficult to guarantee the required food aid - 480,000 tons - reach the people."    Referring to the reported looting of warehouses in Basra, "the very warehouses which WFP is aiming to replenish for the May distribution," he said WFP operations did not seem possible under such circumstances.    The UN High Commissioner for the Refugees (UNHCR) said it was very concerned about the general lawlessness and feared that growing chaos in Iraq's cities and the precarious humanitarian situation could combine to spark a flood of refugees.    "We urge the occupying forces to take immediate measures to restore and maintain law and order and to ensure that humanitarian assistance flows to those who need it," spokesman Peter Kessler said.    The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said pregnant women in particular were increasingly in danger, as local hospitals reportedly struggled to cope with large numbers of war casualties, medical supplies ran low, many operating theatres were no longer usable, and law and order seemed to be breaking down.    Available reports indicated that miscarriages, premature deliveries and caesarean sections have risen sharply since the start of the conflict, spokesman Ziad Rifai said.    The World Health Organization (WHO) reiterated its alarm of recent days at reports from Baghdad of serious civilian casualties and growing pressure on hospitals and health workers. Electricity supplies were erratic, standby generators were being overworked to the point of collapse, and many hospitals were running short of clean, safe water,spokesperson Fadela Chaib said.    Staff were working extremely long hours in unimaginable circumstances and some vital surgical and medical supplies were running short, she added. Without clean water wounds could not be cleaned and could readily become septic, and without electricity vital equipment could not operate.    WHO was flying in 50 surgical kits, due to arrive in Amman, today or tomorrow with sufficient anaesthetics, surgical equipment and medical disposables, such as bandages and syringes, for 5,000 surgical interventions and several days post-operative care, she added.    The agency said reports from much of the rest of central and southern Iraq were even worse than from Baghdad, and it was extremely concerned about the situation in Nasiriya, Najaf, Karbala and many other towns where there had been conflict, where water and power shortages were also reported, and where the health needs had not been assessed.    UN News Service Visit the related web page
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