Covid-19 in Iraq: MSF is concerned about the health situation
Audio 01:23
At the main entrance to the hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, April 26, 2021. REUTERS - THAIER AL-SUDANI
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5 mins
In Iraq, the second wave of the coronavirus is particularly violent and deadly: 7,000 new cases are recorded every day.
A real challenge for this country undermined by decades of conflict, which lacks doctors, drugs and health infrastructure.
Earlier this week, a terrible fire in a hospital in the capital killed 82 people and put more pressure on doctors.
Report with Dr. Aurélie Godard of MSF, a French anesthetist who works at the Kindi hospital in Baghdad.
She warns about the situation in Iraq.
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With our correspondent in Baghdad,
Lucile Wassermann
Kindi Hospital is one of the main hospitals in the Iraqi capital.
This is where a large part of the patients with the most severe form of the coronavirus are cared for in Baghdad.
Here, for weeks, the services have been full.
“
We are very afraid that it will get even worse, that the cases will increase further.
Here it will be summer, but summer means very hot, and therefore people will be locked in closed spaces with air conditioning.
So we are under constant tension and it may get worse,
”she laments.
► Read also: Covid-19: getting sick, a punishment in Iraq
The vaccination campaign, launched in early March, is still in its infancy in Iraq. It does not yet have effects against the coronavirus in the country, which affects more and more young people today. “
We had minors so they are really young,”
notes Aurélie Godard.
These are patients who arrive later in the history of their illness, because they will first try to treat themselves at home and therefore many of them are already at a critical stage
. "
In question: the distrust of the population towards the authorities, including medical ones.
And that is likely to get stronger as a fire left 82 people dead in a city hospital on Monday.
“
The fact that the al-Khatib hospital burned down also deprived the population of a certain number of beds, so we will also have to redeploy these beds elsewhere.
It's all complicated,
”continues the doctor.
► To read also:
Deadly fire of a hospital in Iraq: a wind of anger blows on Baghdad
This month, a large majority of Iraqis celebrate Ramadan, with many family and religious gatherings.
Another challenge for these doctors, who are waiting for one thing: to finally see the epidemiological curve reversed.
"We're forced to choose who to take. We permanently have 6 to 10 people waiting in the ER for a bed in our ICU & we have nowhere else to send them ... It's not a nice experience, but that's what we are doing ".
- Dr. Aurelie Godard, @MSF intensive care refferant in #Baghdad.
- MSF Iraq (@MSF_Iraq) April 25, 2021
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