|
|
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
IRAQ: Medical and food supplies reach Fallujah
FALLUJAH, 22 Sep 2004 (IRIN) - Medicines and food are now reaching the Iraqi city of Fallujah, following two weeks of fighting between US troops and insurgents.
But the Ministry of Health, together with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and NGOs, say they are struggling to cover the needs of the main hospital in the troubled city, some 60 km from the capital, Baghdad.
The ICRC recently sent medicines, emergency materials and surgical supplies, received by the health authorities of the nearby city of Ramadi and then distributed to the main hospital and small medical centres in Fallujah.
Due to insecurity, the ICRC has organised a group of civilian volunteers in Fallujah, together with other medical staff, to help with distribution and to assure some protection for their workers. "We are having great success in this way of working and we think that soon we can have control, especially of the medical assistance in Fallujah," Ahmed Rawi, an ICRC spokesman, told IRIN in Baghdad.
Staff at the main hospital in the city say that, even with the material sent, they cannot carry out complicated surgery and that most cases requiring it still need to be sent to Baghdad. They added that the Ministry of Health has promised that more equipment would be delivered to the hospital as soon as possible.
"We expect that this promise is going to be met and not become just more one political dream," Dr Rafa'ah Hayed Al-Iyssaue, director of the main hospital of Fallujah, told IRIN. "The NGOs are working hard to help us, but for a hospital that is completely empty of medical surgical supplies, much more needs to be done."
Rawi added that other NGOs were also helping to address the needs in Fallujah by sending food and clothes, including the Red Crescent Society of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which delivered supplies last week. "But medical supplies are still a priority in Fallujah," Rawi stressed.
"We are trying to meet, according to our ability, the problems that Fallujah and other cities in the Sunni triangle are encountering. We can reach a good level if everyone helps each other and the fighters give us some security to move around in Fallujah," Muhammad Abdul Rahman of the UAE Red Crescent Society told IRIN.
Huge generators have also been sent to the city in order to ease the critical power situation. The Ministry of Power claims that one of the biggest problems in the city is that most of the electricity sub-stations have been destroyed in the fighting and that repairs are taking longer than expected.
Iraqi health officials have said that since 10 September US air strikes have demolished a dozen homes in Zobaa, a village south of Fallujah, leaving dozens of people buried beneath piles of rubble.
At least 65 people were killed and 54 injured, including women and children, in the latest fighting, according to medical officials in the local hospital. Religious leaders switched on loudspeakers at Fallujah's main mosque calling on residents to donate blood, while chanting "God is great, come and help your Muslim brothers".
Shops and businesses unaffected by the bombing are open and children can be seen playing in the streets, but US planes are still visible in the skies above the city giving local people the impression that there could be another strike at any time. At night the streets are empty as residents fear growing insecurity.
According to US Marines, the latest strikes in Fallujah were conducted very precisely on a meeting of about 30 insurgents they say were working for the Jordanian-born militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man.
"They were very precise strikes on a terrorist compound which has been taking away the peace in Iraq and is responsible for most of the kidnappings in the country," Marine spokesman Lt-Col T.V. Johnson told IRIN.
But for local residents, who are caught up in the bloody battles, peace is the only thing on their minds. "We are paying for something we didn't ask to happen. Peace will only be a dream in our lifetime. We are just toys in the middle of all of them, with our lives at great risk," Ahmad Jabouri, 42, a shop owner in Fallujah, told IRIN.
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
