Baqubah medicine shortage worsens after attacks

Monday's US-led assault on Baqubah, 65 km northeast of Baghdad, has put added strain on already stretched facilities at the city's hospital, as dead and injured are brought in, medical staff say. Dr Jihad Obeid told IRIN that at least 12 people had been brought in dead from the fighting, with more than 30 injured, including civilians and policemen. "During normal days the hospital suffers from a shortage of medicine, especially antibiotics, and now it's getting worse and we need urgent help from the government, the situation here is getting worse each minute," Dr Obeid said. Medical staff also want ambulances to be sent to the city following the disappearance of two of the hospital's own ambulances. Staff said that early on Monday morning insurgents hijacked the ambulances and it was still not known what had happened to the drivers and paramedics. The air strikes and gun battles in the mixed Sunni and Shi'ite city, which has like Fallujah been a centre for anti-US resistance, brought hundreds of protesters onto the streets later on Monday in a demonstration against the government. The protestors also called for the Coalition forces to leave the county. "We are really tired of this suffering, you never know if tomorrow you'll be dead or alive, I have children and they cry everyday afraid of death," Mahmoud Jaffar, a father of four attending the demonstration, told IRIN. Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) spokeswoman, Firdoos al-Abadi, told IRIN that the city was nearing a state of total collapse. She said that the IRCS urgently needed more supplies, which they would try to deliver to the hospital. However, she added that the crisis in Fallujah was occupying most of their time. "Baqubah was already going through difficult circumstances and with this fighting it may become much worse," al-Abadi warned. Residents said that if the violence continued they would have to flee to a more secure place as the street clashes were taking place by homes and shops, many of which had closed down making basic survival more difficult. "If the situation continues I will try to get another place to my family. My brother has already taken his family and fled the city and they are staying in an open area near Baqubah, together with other 30 families," 45-year-old father of five Salam Yassim told IRIN. Those families which have fled, like those in Fallujah, are experiencing difficulties, especially as they have no access to medical assistance, local information sources said. Shops were closed and the streets deserted after the air strike on Monday orning. US military spokesman, Captain Bill Coppernoll, said US planes had ropped 225-kg bombs on Baqubah after a bus carrying nearly 30 insurgents arrived to the city and joined other militants from the area. Monday also saw more violence in other parts of the country. Explosions and sporadic gunfire rang out across the northern city of Mosul, a day after Iraqi and US troops battled to retake a police station overrun by insurgents. Violence has also erupted in Samarrah and Baiji, both Sunni cities north of the capital. The Iraqi government said that they could not yet give figures for the total number of death and injured. "The government may be angry about what we have been saying but the truth is that we have a deteriorating situation and a virtually unmanagable humanitarian crisis starting in the country," the IRCS's al-Abadi warned.