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PATIENT TESTIMonial : Said
Said is a young man, 18 years old, who sells steel in Baghdad. On July 9th he was standing near two booby-trapped vehicles when they blew up in a neighborhood of the capital. After listening to his story, we told him, as we have got accustomed to doing, that we would not give his real name. “What’s there to fear. What can be worse than what I’m going through now?” he told us at the end of the interview. “Our car had a flat tire. My friends went off to get something to fix it with, while I stayed and waited. It was our car that shielded me from the two other cars that blew up a few metres away from me. I was hit directly in the face. My nasal septum was shattered, and I lost several teeth. I was rushed to hospital. My friends looked for me in vain, then found me at the hospital and told my family. They operated on me immediately; I was in the operating room for three hours. One of the surgeons present knew about MSF. I underwent a second operation, and left hospital after two weeks. “With the limited means that we have these days, we can’t do anything more for you,” they told me. On the other hand, they strongly urged me to apply for a passport. The doctor told me that it was possible to refer me to Amman (in Jordan) where the kind of specialized operation I needed was available, thanks to foreign doctors. He told me, however, to keep a low profile and not to tell anyone about it, for security reasons. I had a lot of trouble getting a passport. I had to pay over $500, and got it a month later. I finally arrived in Amman on August 21. I wanted to come by car, as my ears hurt in an airplane. But it was impossible, again for security reasons. Here, the doctors told me I had several facial fractures, and I’ve already had one operation. They’ve taken bone from my hip to reconstruct my nose. I’m supposed to have a second operation in two weeks. I don’t want to go back to Iraq. I’ve lost count of the number of friends who’ve died right before my eyes. Do you know anyone at the HCR ?” » Back to the Jordan / Iraq Project Profile index
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