Iraq's Emergency Services Lack Funds, Staff, Equipment

By Cernig

If you're an Iraqi and you're caught up in a terrorist attack or in the crossfire between insurgents and the security forces, that is probably only the beginning of your troubles. Like everything else in Iraq, the emergency services are broken.

“We were really desperate during the serious attacks on Wednesday [18 April] in the capital as most of the hundreds of injured people were taken to our hospital and we were unable to treat them because of the shortage in doctors, nurses, medicines and materials used in emergency operations,” said Dr Ali Haydar Azize at Sadr City Hospital.

“Our supplies [of medicines] were finished in the middle of treating the injured people. Some of them had to be taken to another hospital to save their lives but if we were fully equipped with materials and staff, we would have been able to treat all of them,” Azize added.

...“Violence is increasing and emergencies are our daily reality. Some people died on Wednesday for lack of medicines and others because of a lack of staff. Not enough doctors are left in Iraq and sometimes nurses have to step in and perform their [doctors’] duty to help save lives,” Azize added.

...Compounding the problem of limited medical supplies and doctors is a shortage of vehicles and equipment used by emergency services workers and diminishing numbers of the workers themselves.

Civil Defence Directorate (CDD) officials, who are in charge of Iraqi Fire Services, said that a shortage in fire trucks has prevented them from getting to emergencies quickly. And crucially for a fire-fighting service, there are no nationwide water distribution systems in Iraq.

...“Some trucks are lying in the garage waiting for repairs and this has decreased our capacity. On Wednesday, it was clear that the emergency systems in Iraq need to be improved but with lack of funds, civilians are the ones who pay for this situation,” CDD officer Col. Youssef Ayad said.

...“Some people died [in Wednesday’s attacks] because of fires rather than directly from the attacks. If it was in another country, their lives would have been saved,” Fatah Ahmed, spokesman of Iraq Aid Association (IAA), said.

There is also a shortage of ambulances and ambulance drivers to transfer patients to hospitals during attacks. The emergency services often depend on civilians, who typically lack any medical knowledge, to transport the injured to nearby hospitals. Sometimes, by the time they reach hospitals the injured are dead simply because they were put in a car incorrectly, doctors say.

Just another portion of the FUBAR situation that is Iraq, four years into the occupation. We shouldn't even contemplate giving the creators and perpetuators of this mess any more time. By now, they've proven their mismanagement is systemic.