The authorized midwife, Umm Mariam, receives double numbers of pregnant women in the city of Kut, south of Baghdad, as it has become a popular destination for women who are afraid to visit government hospitals for fear of infection with the Corona virus.
And more than three thousand members of the medical team, or the "White Army" as it became known throughout Iraq, were infected with the virus during their continuous efforts to save the infected people.
"Because of the fear of corona, my reviews of pregnant women doubled from three to nine and ten (pregnant women) per day," says Umm Maryam, who has equipped one of her room with a medical bed and supplies to care for pregnant women and help them give birth.
The 50-year-old, who has had more than 20 years of experience in the field, stresses, "The increase is caused by fear of getting sick when reviewing hospitals."
For this reason, too, private hospitals are now competing with government hospitals, which also suffer from a lack of infrastructure, poor training, and a lack of financial allocations that do not exceed 2% of the budget in one of the world's richest countries in oil.
High injuries
Anxiety increased for many after the number of HIV infections in Iraq reached 126,704, including 4,805 deaths.
"For fear of corona infection, I will go to a private hospital that the doctor assigns to me," said Mais, 29, who will be stealing her first child in the next few weeks, at a time when fear of the virus denies her almost free medical care in a government hospital.
Despite the relatively high costs of childbearing in private hospitals, which are not less than one million and 750,000 dinars (about $ 1,400) compared to symbolic amounts in public hospitals, Mays says, "All my friends gave birth in private hospitals."
In Wasit Governorate and its largest city, Kut, where there are nine government hospitals, one of which is dedicated to caring for people with corona, the number of patients with various diseases who go to government hospitals decreased compared to the period before the spread of the virus.
Lower reviewers
"The number of hospital auditors decreased to about 50% after the Corona pandemic due to the fear of infection," said Mahdi Al-Shwaili, head of the Doctors ’Syndicate. On the other hand, "there is a doubling and increasing influx of treatment in the private sector." The phenomenon has expanded to include patients who need surgery.
"The number of surgeries we perform in the hospital has decreased from about 400 during the first quarter of this year to 187 during the past three months," said a doctor who works at the Karama government hospital in downtown Kut, who asked not to be identified.
He pointed out that the difference went to private hospitals, saying, "Every day, 200 patients go to private hospitals to perform surgeries."
In Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, the director of the Azadi Hospital, Kilan Ahmed, states that "those who suffer from chronic diseases such as heart, pressure, diabetes and those who need dialysis, suffer from weak immunity and do not review public hospitals for fear of the virus."
"We are tired of seeing doctors and buying medicines, but I have no trick ... I cannot take risks and go to a public hospital so that we will not get a SK," said Abu Karar, 32, a government employee who has been traveling for weeks for medical exams for his five-year-old son Hossam.
It is difficult for the vast majority of Iraqis, one in five of whom live below the poverty line, to pay for medical reviews and to purchase special drugs in light of the global epidemic.
The pharmacist is an alternative to the doctor
The economic circumstances also prompted the majority of Iraqis to rely on pharmacists or home clinics run by nurses to determine what medication they need.
A pharmacist in a Baghdad neighborhood confirms that "90% of people ask for medicine to relieve pain they feel without seeing a doctor or hospital."
With this continuing anxiety in a country where, according to the World Health Organization, there are only 14 treatment beds for every 10,000 people, many families have resorted to bringing supplies, including a medical oxygen bottle, to the house to be used to treat those infected with the virus with the help of medical teams.
Eng. Ahmed Abdul Mutlaq, Associate Director of Al-Taji Governmental Medical Oxygen Laboratory confirms that "the factory provides about one hundred oxygen bottles per day for the general public to treat people infected with coronavirus inside their homes," noting that the production of the factory has doubled to reach 1500 packages per day to secure the need of public hospitals.
And because of corruption also prevailing in Iraq, it is difficult to control the prices of medicines and medical equipment, which led the Iraqis to search for easy temporary solutions, such as buying "vitamin C" and zinc tablets, up to medical oxygen bottles, despite the increase in prices by three or four times, to keep them in Their homes, because they believe this is safer than going to government hospitals.