Hospitals destroyed, physicians gone: Iraqi doctors face dire situation

Despite the physician shortage and hobbled infrastructure, Iraq's military surgeon general sees signs of progress amid the chaos.

By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. Sept. 24, 2007.

Washington -- When most physicians deal with life-and-death situations, the lives at stake are not their own. But despite some recent improvements, that's exactly what many doctors in Iraq continue to face.

Kidnappings and assassinations have claimed the lives of hundreds of Iraqi physicians and prompted thousands of doctors to leave the country to avoid similar fates. For those few who remain, daily violent attacks bring in scores of severely wounded Iraqi civilians and military personnel who must be treated with insufficient supplies in whatever facilities have survived the fighting so far.

On top of all of that, a board-certified general surgeon who is dedicated enough to stay can expect to make only about $300 per month working in an Iraqi hospital under the country's Ministry of Health.

Brig. Gen. Samir Abdullah Hassan, is trying to change the situation on the ground. Dr. Samir, an orthopedic surgeon by training, is the surgeon general for Iraq's more than 160,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and special forces personnel. Working in Baghdad under the Iraqi health minister, he is considered by the U.S. Dept. of Defense to be the leading spokesman on the state of all health care in the country.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon earlier this month during a weeklong visit to the U.S., Dr. Samir said he did not have exact figures on how many physicians have been killed or have fled the country. But Iraq's civilian hospitals have only about 35% of the doctors that they need to be fully staffed, he said. The military medical situation is also bad, with the armed forces staffing only about 20% of the more than 700 physicians they need.