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Project Objectives
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) opened its project in Jordan on August 5. Head of mission Dr. Mego Terzian explains the goals of the project in Amman and describes the main difficulties encountered by the team and our partners in Iraq. Can you explain to us the reasons for MSF's presence in Amman? They began by expressing their concerns over the atmosphere of chaos that currently prevails in Iraq, discouraging us from interceding there directly. Instead, they suggested another possibility developed around reconstructive surgery, since the hospitals in Iraq are so overwhelmed that they can no longer provide this type of care. For example, one of the patients who we intend to transfer here has been waiting for a reconstructive surgery operation for more than two years. This overflow is coupled with a lack of specialized surgeons: according
to the United Nations, more than 400 specialized doctors have left Iraq
since hostilities began in 2003. Furthermore, hundreds of other doctors
have been killed. This is why, for example, the General Surgical Hospital
of Baghdad currently has only one orthopedic surgeon. The threats against
doctors also affect their patients as well, since this type of surgery
requires an average hospital stay of three weeks – three weeks during
which the patients are at the mercy of revenge operations by the various
armed militias. To address the threat to Western expatriates in Iraq, we have put together an initial network of contacts with local doctors, who try to identify patients we can refer to Amman. These same doctors also try to determine the most serious deficiencies in the hospital system in Baghdad, visiting health care facilities of every creed in order to respect our principle of impartiality. Based on the conclusions of these visits, our colleagues have chosen several hospitals which we will attempt to supply regularly with equipment and medications. However, this objective requires several guarantees, particularly in terms of reliable intermediaries, both for ordering medical supplies and for receiving supplies sent to Baghdad. This is especially important given the major financial expense that this portion of the project represents. What are the main difficulties inherent to this project, and
how can we resolve them? Sometimes, from certain places near Baghdad, it would be less risky for those who live there to drive to Jordan for health care than to make the journey to the airport, or to stay in a hospital bed in Baghdad. In fact, that's what one of our recent patients decided to do. At the same time, we also have to be careful not to further expose our colleagues in Iraq, and that's not easy! One of them, for example, was directly threatened recently upon leaving the Ministry of Health to collect information on patients to be transferred. Our first step, therefore, is to cultivate and improve our network of
Iraqi doctors in order to be within closer reach of those who need to
undergo reconstructive surgery, and gradually to increase the number of
patients who can be referred to us and cared for in Jordan. » Back to the Jordan / Iraq Project Profile index
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