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Amman, window on Iraq Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) left Iraq in November 2004 as targeted attacks on international aid organizations meant it was no longer possible to work there. This year it has begun to provide assistance again to Iraqis by partnering with the Red Crescent hospital in Amman, Jordan. This mission is focused mainly on surgical activities and is administered in close coordination with doctors working in Iraq.
Given the targeted attacks on international aid organization, MSF cannot treat victims of the conflict directly in Iraq. It is therefore offering services to its Iraqi emergency physician colleagues, surgeons who continue to work in Iraq hospitals despite the insecurity prevailing in the country. MSF is helping to treat the victims of violence by providing supplies to Iraqi health care facilities and by transferring certain patients to Amman, Jordan. After three years of war, the Iraqi health care system is overwhelmed due to the constant influx (see footnote 1) of wounded patients who flood the hospital on a daily basis. As the violence intensifies in Iraq, many doctors are threatened or have left the country (see footnote 2) , and those who remain must tend to the most urgent cases first. Because of the lack of doctors, specialists and equipment, the high cost of an operation, and the constant danger faced by patients and medical personnel, it is very difficult to receive specialized surgical care in Iraq (for the account of an Iraqi doctor, read here). After being injured in an attack – by an explosive device or bursts of machine-gun fire – civilians are quickly transferred to medical facilities but encounter numerous difficulties in receiving proper treatment once they have been given initial emergency care. They are faced with endless, often insurmountable, obstacles; some patients have described their ordeal to us. In view of this situation, MSF has decided to open a surgery programme in Amman, Jordan. On 5 August, in collaboration with the Jordanian Red Crescent hospital, this project admitted the first Iraqi patients whose wounds required reconstructive surgery, including orthopedic, maxillo-facial and plastic surgery. The programme enables Iraqi doctors to refer civilians wounded in Iraq to the Jordanian programme, thanks to the support of a network of Iraqi physicians responsible for identifying patients and carrying out the administrative and logistical procedures necessary for their transfer. Dr. Mego Terzian, the head of mission in Amman, explains the programme’s objectives, while Dr. Nikki Blackwell, anesthesiologist, discusses certain surgical aspects of this project. MSF is also trying to help Iraqi doctors who are still working in this country despite the threats they are facing. MSF is developing contacts in order to determine the resources available to Iraqi hospitals to treat medical and surgical emergencies. The team working in Amman is beginning to directly supply Iraqi health care facilities with medicines and supplies. 1. The report presented on 1 September
by the UN secretary-general to the Security Council states that “Iraq
has become one of the world’s most violent conflict zones. According
to the most recent figures released by the government [Iraqi – editor’s
note], the number of civilians killed has significantly increased and
on average amounts to around 100 people per day; in addition, more than
14,000 are reportedly wounded every month. » Back to the Jordan / Iraq Project Profile index
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