Health system improves in south

Improvements in the state health system in southern Iraq, which have meant greater efficiency and a wider availability of medicine, are giving hope to local residents. According to medical staff in the area, the working environment has been improved and conditions are now better than during Saddam Hussein's regime. They claim that there is still a lack of medicine but shortages are less severe than before. "We have lack of some emergency materials but I can say that it's something normal or as in other countries," Dr Khalid Shakarchi, pharmacist at a public hospital, told IRIN in the southern city of Basra. The Secretary of Health in Basra, Dr Ra'ad Salman, who took up his post two months after the March 2003 war, told IRIN that he believed cities in southern Iraq would soon have the best health system in the country as a result of positive cooperation between British forces and the Iraqi interim government. "Health means life and to have a good life you need to take care of it and it is our duty. We hope that we can soon cover all the health requirements in the south of Iraq," he added. According to Dr Salman, the improvement of security in the area is also an important issue. He said that people were now feeling safe to travel from their homes to visit clinics and hospitals when they needed to. Doctors in the city said that people were also being educated on how important it is to take care of their health and as a result diseases had been decreasing continuously in the area. "The health situation is good nowadays and the population has more sense about their health. Our hospital was rebuilt after the war and now it's fully equipped with all its needs. The number of patients are decreasing due to the well managed health system but we will be always in need of drugs," Dr Abdul Ameer al-Daragi, director of al-Faiha'a General Hospital in Basra told IRIN. Al-Daragi added that the most important issue for the medical staff in the south is training so they can learn new medical techniques. Many still use traditional and outdated methods to treat their patients. A wide variety of drugs can be found at private pharmacies but the cost is high. Shakarchi pointed out that patients receive medicine free of charge or at minimal cost in hospitals. He added that everyone had the right to get free treatment such as blood sugar tests, X-rays, urine and stool examinations at hospitals. According to Shakarchi, the hospital pharmacy suffers a lack of medicines such as antibiotics, intravenous painkillers, fluids and syringes. He added that these shortages are nationwide. Doctor Haydar al-Allin, director of the General Hospital in Amara in the southern Missan governorate, told IRIN that sometimes patients are surprised that they can have tests done for free with efficiency and speed. He added that the government told them the quota of medicine per month would be increased from February and they are due to receive supplies of new equipment donated by British forces. Patients interviewed by IRIN expressed their relief at the improvement in the health care available to them. "The health situation is better now. We were dying like flies with no medical care and no one to ask about us. But now the situation is much better, thanks to the new [interim] government," Kathem Hussein, a patient at Al-Faiha'a General Hospital who had undergone an operation for an appendicitis, told IRIN. "They have been taking very good care of me in the hospital and I'm very grateful to them. Without their help I would have died."