Iraq faces second wave of coronavirus
Audio 02:30
Hospital staff at the Kindi hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, in March 2021. © RFI / Lucile Wasserman
By: Lucile Wassermann Follow
6 mins
Around 5,000 cases are recorded every day by the health ministry - although these figures may well be underestimated, due to the low number of tests carried out in the country.
Faced with this new wave, hospitals are overwhelmed.
The challenge is enormous in this country which has faced shortages of drugs, doctors and facilities for decades, and which has received only 50,000 doses of vaccines to date.
Report in one of the intensive care units in Baghdad, managed by Médecins sans frontières.
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New emergency in the intensive care unit of Kindi hospital.
On a stretcher, surrounded by a dozen doctors, an Iraqi woman in her sixties arrives in serious condition.
The transfer to his hospital bed must be quick and precise.
Oxygen mask, intravenous medication injection, blood pressure measurement, etc.
There is no time to waste because this patient is out of breath.
The unit is managed by Médecins sans frontières (MSF).
The caregivers are Iraqis or foreigners.
Maxime Pirard, a Belgian, is responsible for nursing care.
He comments on the condition of the newcomer.
“
This is a patient who arrived in the emergency room with symptoms for several days.
She arrives in critical condition, as we often see patients arriving here.
They arrive with enough oxygen needs
, ”he tells us.
There are 51 beds in this service which takes care of the most severe forms of the coronavirus in Baghdad.
The newcomer occupies the last available bed.
“
Our intensive care has been complete for 4 or 5 days continuously, so each time a patient dies or is sent home, there is another patient who arrives within the hour,
” says Maxime Picard.
After an hour of fighting, this Iraqi woman is unfortunately not one of the happy cases and breathes her last at 11:30 am.
In Iraq, many patients arrive too late at the hospital.
They have no confidence in their health system and prefer to stay at home, even if it means suffering from severe forms.
“
The Iraqi health system is really precarious.
My mother was in another hospital before and she developed kidney failure.
They didn't even have the machine to treat it,
”says Bashar Jafar, the son of a patient.
Managed by MSF, this service is far from Iraqi standards.
Here, the machines are available and synergy operates between the teams.
There remain a few peculiarities, non-negotiable in Iraq: families can stay alongside their loved ones.
Often unprotected, disregarding the risks, as this woman testifies.
“
No no, I'm not afraid!
I stayed here the last two days and the last two nights.
My daughters are arriving to take over.
Sana al Rubaie is 66 years old, she stayed with her ailing husband who eventually died of the disease.
For several weeks, the death toll has skyrocketed in Iraq.
And yet outside the hospital, all measures to curb the epidemic have recently been lightened.
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Coronavirus
Iraq
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