Relatives of the victims: Neglect caused the fire of the Covid hospital in Baghdad

Fire extinguishers not working, medical equipment outdated, fire alarm system malfunctioning in the hospital, the list of accusations were formed by witnesses, medical staff, relief teams and relatives of victims in the fire that broke out in a hospital treating Covid-19 patients in Baghdad on Saturday, which killed more than 80 people .

The incident fueled the fire of anger in the hearts of Iraqis, who say that the inability of their government and the political elite to improve services and root out the roots of corruption at the level of the country in the end cost lives.

"Everything in the hospital is old," said Muhammad Attar, whose three relatives were killed in the fire that occurred during the blessed month of Ramadan. "Nothing is good in the health care system in Iraq," he said.

Athar al-Maliki, who lost a family member, expressed his regret at what he said was the authorities' inability to respond and deal with an emergency situation.

"Wasn't it necessary for there to be oversight at the ministry level over the Covid-19 hospital in Baghdad? This is a gross negligence ... a hospital that is burning and not even fire trucks are available quickly," he said.

And the civil defense in Iraq said that it had warned the authorities earlier of the risk of a hospital fire.

A spokesman for the Iraqi Civil Defense Directorate, Brigadier General Jawdat Abdul Rahman, said, "We have officially informed the hospital administration and the Health Department of the existence of violations of the safety requirements, but we did not get any answer."

"The wet extinguishing system was not available, nor was there an alarm system for fires .. If all of this were available, then fire control would become in less time and there would be fewer casualties," he added.

Four of the witnesses said that the hospital's fire extinguishers did not work when the fire began to spread.

The Iraqi Ministry of Health, which speaks for the country's government hospitals, has not responded to repeated requests for comment since the accident.

The Iraqi Minister of Health was immediately suspended, but it is just a move that many Iraqis believe will make little difference to a healthcare system that has suffered from decades of neglect.

Follow our latest local and sports news, and the latest political and economic developments via Google news