"We have become the designated hospital for all emergencies in Rasafa (the western half of Baghdad) because we are the closest to the main roads," said the deputy head of the Kindi hospital, Doctor Yassin Mustafa Kazem.
"We have to give priority to our emergency department which can handle between 90 and 120 wounded a day," said Doctor Rajab al-Saffar, who occupies the same post at Yarmuk, the capital's other main hospital.
The bulk of the victims of the relentless bombings and shootings carried out by Sunni Arab militants are brought to these two hospitals, as are the victims of the massive crime wave that has accompanied the insurgency.
Within minutes their inadequate emergency wards can turn into chaos, spilling over with dead bodies, wounded people seeking assistance and distressed relatives looking for loved ones.
Just Friday, more than 50 Iraqis were brought to Yarmuk hospital following a string of suicide and other attacks on Shiite targets in and around Baghdad.
"For such cases, we have a special room with 15 beds and all the necessary equipment. The whole medical staff is mobilised," said Bashir Mohammed Bashir, who manages the emergency ward.
While officials at both hospitals boast the high level of training and preparedness of their staff, they bemoan a lack of medical supplies and equipment.
"Take this machine, it's been here since I started my career 25 years ago," said Bashir, pointing at a rusty medical appliance.
The fridges at the blood bank are equally old. "We have enough units for all the patients, but it'll be disaster if one of them breaks down," he said.
Yarmuk has no more than four to six ambulances available at any one time and just 13 surgical beds in its emergency department.
"Medicine is in short supply, the beds and equipment are old, and recently running water was cut for two days," said Doctor Hazem Ismail, struggling to make himself heard amid the screams of a man who suffered gunshot wounds during a robbery.
"When there is an attack, we move the other patients onto beds in the service corridor in order to free up an extra room. Sometimes, we even have to treat people on the floor," said another doctor.
"This is what happened during the attack on the hospital."
On November 8, a car bomb exploded in front of Yarmuk hospital, killing 13 people and wounding 60.
Most of the building's windows were shattered, its doors ripped off their hinges by the force of the blast.
On January 30, the day Iraq Iraq was holding its first free elections in decades, gunmen sprayed automatic gunfire on the hospital. "There were at least two other occurrences when our security guards had to open fire to repel attackers," Kazem said.
The health ministry is aware that its facilities are overwhelmed but is struggling to overhaul a system which suffered chronic underinvestment during the crippling 13 year embargo which the United Nations imposed on Saddam Hussein's regime.
"Last year, a hospital with a total capacity of 200 beds and just 15 in its emergency ward, received 500 wounded in an hour," said health ministry official Doctor Shaker al-Ainaji, referring to bombings which killed more than 170 people in Baghdad and the Shiite shrine city of Karbala a year ago.
"We asked the government to allocate us one billion dollars over four years... and this is what we obtained."
He said a 25-million-dollar pledge from the World Bank would enable the upgrading of emergency departments across Iraq Iraq but added that "the violence is taking a huge toll on the health sector.
"It's like technical failure on a plane that you have to try and fix as it's flying."
Middle East News BAGHDAD (AFP) Sunday February 20, 2005
photo caption and source: Baghdad hospital AFP/file
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