Italian Red Cross unit provides vital care for burns victims

Italian doctors are busy with reconstructive surgery on Ahmed's scarred face, which was burned in a kerosene heater accident. Outside the operating room, his parents wait anxiously for news. Even though the scarring was not life-threatening, it was an ugly reminder of the accident, which happened more than two years ago, said Ahmed's father, Adil Tomuz, 45. His son was five years old at the time, Tomuz said. He ran too close to the heater, tipped it over, and the fire burned his face and hands. "The doctors here are very good, so we are not worried," Tomuz said. "We feel very lucky to get such good doctors and care." There was no specialised burn treatment available in Iraq before the Italian Red Cross set up a special unit on two floors of a hospital given to them by the Ministry of Health in Medical City, said Roberto Baldessarelli, the Italian Red Cross hospital administrator. The elite medical area, along the Tigris River in Baghdad, is in the western Sunni Muslim part of town. Since the end of war that toppled Saddam Hussein last year, the Italian Red Cross has cared for 7,379 burn patients. Many would have died without specialised treatment, Baldessarelli said. "There are a great number of burn accidents, since people here use kerosene for cooking and heating in the winter," he added. "It's very dangerous for babies." Children also sell kerosene and benzene in the streets of Baghdad, which also leads to accidents, Baldessarelli noted. The Italian Red Cross operated a field hospital in a tent near the former International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC)offices but moved in October to the more secure Medical City location, said Alessandro Bartolini, a hospital doctor. The Red Cross was bombed in October, compounding insecurity for international agencies after a bombing in August at United Nations headquarters in Baghdad that killed 22 people. In addition to the burns unit, the hospital also has an emergency room and specialised plastic surgery, cardiology and pediatric units, Bartolini said. More than 9,000 emergency cases were seen in the last year, he added. Cheerful curtains separate the hospital's corridors and rooms from the bustling walk-in reception area. The hospital has won a reputation for its outstanding treatment of patients, Bartolini said, so others come, even if their ailments are not serious. Outside, for example, people in wheelchairs are pushed by family members eager to see if the Italian doctors can somehow help them. Ambulances staffed by Italian medics stand at the ready to receive patients from other hospitals or from the city and its surroundings. Most of Baghdad's telephone network still does not operate, meaning the ambulances get few calls. But the medics often can treat people brought in by frantic family members before they are taken into the operating room. More than 900 surgeries were performed in the last year at the hospital, according to its statistics. But most health ailments are more routine - check-ups for the children and medicine for the sick. The hospital dealt with 26,383 outpatient treatments over the last year, for example. More than 13,030 children saw pediatricians, Bartolini said. "We're able to do a good job here," he added. "It's rewarding to us to help these people." In addition, the Italian Red Cross offers humanitarian aid in crisis situations around Iraq, such as trucking 3,500 litres of purified water per day to a camp in western Baghdad for people who fled fighting in Fallujah.