Insecurity limits access to medical facilities

Students and patients have to dodge bullets when visiting and studying at a public hospital and dentistry college in Baghdad's Haifa street. Their plight highlights the risk to civilians as US troops and local forces battle against insurgents in that area. They are calling on the government to step in and ensure that the area is made safe. "Most days I leave the college under fire," Mahmoud Kubaissy, a student at the dentistry college of Mustansirya University told IRIN in Baghdad. "I don't have any other choice as I am looking for a good future. But sometimes I feel that any day my dreams may be over if a stray bullet comes my way," he added. The college was inaugurated in the year 2000 by Saddam Hussein's regime and the first group of some 500 students will graduate this year. Keeping open the dentistry clinic where students offer free treatment to those who simply cannot afford it is critical. But doctors from the college say if this situation continues they will have to close their doors and maybe the college too. "I'm proud of my students. I consider them heroes in the middle of a war, trying to help others and trying to be good professionals even in dangerous situations. It is really very distressing," Dr Hadeel Mashhadany, director of the surgical department of the dentistry college told IRIN. Last month a student was injured by a bullet in his arm when leaving the college and his friends told stories of lucky escapes as fighting could be heard in the streets outside the college premises. "I was hit in an exchange of fire between US troops and insurgents in the Adammya sector of Baghdad. The government should do something," Mahmoud Sinan, a patient at Karama hospital told IRIN. The Karama hospital, one of the largest multi specialisation hospitals in Baghdad, is next to the dentistry college and is also suffering as patients appeal for better security in the area. Officials from the hospital say that the situation is becomming critical especially during the afternoon when they say fighting intensifies, adding that medical staff change shifts in the afternoon, making it very difficult for them to enter the building. "Emergencies have to be sent to another main hospital since the area is dangerous in the afternoon and at night. We cannot stop doing our job, but insecurity is slowing down treatments," Dr Abdul Al-Farouk, at Karama hospital told IRIN. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior told IRIN that the area had been very difficult to control either by the Iraqi army or US troops, adding that a large number of insurgents were in the area, meaning there could be little done for the medical facilities. Officials said that a special programme was being developed for rehabilitation in the area. This plan, however, does not give much comfort to local residents who pray and long for peace. "I've got a daughter and a son in the dentistry college and every day I pray to God that nothing happens to them. I don't have money to take them out of the country, so we just have to have faith in God to look after them," Baker Omar, a father of two students at the college told IRIN.