Feb
Iraq’s mentally ill and poor face risks in and out of facilities
PHOTO: A mother and child at Muqdadiyah Hospital in Iraq, JamesDale10, flickr.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry said it is going to start rounding up beggars and the mentally ill off the streets. Their reason is they want to prevent these vulnerable people from being lured into militant groups.
The ministry has pledged to place those rounded up in “governmental institutions that can provide shelter and care for them.”
As wonderful as that sounds, how likely is it? This follows a report that Iraq’s hospitals are on the brink of collapse.
Iraq’s hospitals and medical facilities are often dilapidated, outdated and lack organization or staffs.
Iraqi hospitals have struggled since the first days of the war with treating patients. This is very sad for the obvious reason that people cannot get the treatment they need and often suffer or die. But it is also sad because Iraq’s hospitals used to be the place to go in the Middle East for treatment.
When the war began in 2004, there was an exodus of educated Iraqis. Just about anyone who could afford to leave did, and that included a lot of medical professionals.
