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3 April 2003 An Iraqi Red Crescent (IRCS) maternity hospital in the al-Mansour district of Baghdad was damaged on 2 April in an attack by American and British forces on a nearby building. Three passers-by were killed and 27 injured as a result of the bombing. The bombs hit a building opposite the hospital, and the blast was so strong it damaged nearby buildings. The windows of the maternity hospital were broken and its roof collapsed. The maternity hospital is part of a Red Crescent compound that also includes the IRCS headquarters and a surgical hospital. No casualties were reported from the hospitals, as they had been evacuated some days previously. Before the conflict, an average of 35 babies were being born every day at al-Mansour hospital, thanks to the dedication and skills of the 90 resident staff, which included four doctors, six midwives, eight anaesthetists and 22 nurses. The hospital built its reputation on providing services for very low fees - "ten times less than a private clinic”, according to Dr Rasmi Al-Rikabi, manager of the hospital for the past four years. The most deprived families paid only one third of the regular fees, the rest being covered by an IRCS Social and Health Charity Fund. As a result, pregnant women came from all over Baghdad to take advantage of the cheap but good quality service. The IRCS maternity hospital was serving a very real need. The UN Children’s Fund said last year that the mortality rate of under-fives in Iraq was 131 per 1,000 live births - two-and-a-half times higher than it was a decade ago. Unicef also warned of a sharp increase in maternal mortality, in part due to a lack of emergency obstetric care. Established in 1973, the two-storey, 56-bedroom Al-Mansour hospital was the first IRCS health facility in Iraq. Since then, two surgical hospitals have opened in Baghdad. The IRCS also runs an orthopaedic clinic in Mosul, in northern Iraq, and a specialised centre for treating diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases in the southern city of Basrah. Meanwhile, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has been rehabilitating primary health care centres across the country. By the end of 2002, 105 had been made operational again or provided with medical equipment. There were plans to rehabilitate another 35 over the next two years, but this work has had to be suspended as a result of the conflict. Related links: Iraq humanitarian crisis Iraq: appeals, updates and reports News story: Red Crescent offers Iraqi babies safer start to life Make a donation |
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