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BRITAIN is pulling a
medical ship and field clinic out of Iraq even though there are
only two hospitals left open in Baghdad.
Last night there was
anger at the decision as thousands of sick and injured Iraqis
faced death in hospitals without electricity, water and few
drugs.
The Red Cross said 33
of the 35 hospitals in Baghdad were "no longer
functioning".
BURNED: Girl at
Saddam City hospital
But the Ministry of
Defence announced on Friday that it was sending home dozens of
British doctors and nurses with 33 Field Hospital and medical
ship RFA Argus.
It said there was
"no requirement for medical aid to be imported at the
moment".
Lib Dem Paul Keetch
said all three field hospitals in Iraq should stay.
"Given the fact
that hospitals in Basra and Baghdad have been looted,
withdrawing any medical facilities from the Gulf at this time is
premature," he said.
"The Government
gave a commitment to look after the Iraqi people long-term, what
better tangible demonstration of that than to allow this field
hospital to be used by Iraqis?"
In Baghdad's Medical
City - once a complex of four hospitals - and one of the
facilities still open, all 2,400 beds are full.
Another 300 patients
were queuing to get in yesterday. There are just two nurses and
a handful of doctors working.
There is no running
water to clean wounds or sterilise instruments and no
electricity to run equipment or light the wards. Many rooms are
filthy and splattered with blood.
Most medical centres
have no drugs, beds or even simple instruments including
stethoscopes because they have been pillaged during days of
looting. Experts fear many will die from simple infections.
PAIN: Boy victim
caught up in US bomb blast
Doctors and nurses have
been attacked as they try to protect their patients and many
have fled. One medic has been shot dead, another wounded.
For days US Marines
looked on and did nothing to stop the looting.
They blamed a lack of
manpower but they had soldiers guarding Baghdad's oil
headquarters.
Jean-Michel Piedagne,
director of Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF UK), said the British
and US governments had a duty to provide medical care for
Iraqis.
He said: "It is
the responsibility of the occupying forces under the Geneva
Convention to make sure the basic needs of the population are
catered for.
"So it is the
responsibility of the British and Americans to make sure the
people have access to health care." He added: "Since
the attack on Baghdad the hospitals have not been able to cope,
they are severely overstretched and staff are working under
horrendous conditions.
"Medical staff are
also too scared to come to work in the hospitals because they
don't want to leave their homes for fear of them being
looted."
Martha Clarke, of CAFOD
(Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), said: "We have
been asking the Army for some time to create an area in which
emergency aid can get through. Things have been getting worse
and worse. We are waiting to go in and have four trucks full of
medicines, food and other aid waiting at the Jordan
border."
The MoD yesterday
argued that Royal Fleet Auxiliary Argus and 33 Field Hospital
were not needed. It said the two field hospitals that remain
would be enough.
RFA Argus has two
operating theatres on board and beds for 96 patients. And 33
Field Hospital has 30 surgeons, doctors, nurses and other medics
to serve its 300 beds.
A spokesman added:
"34 and 202 field hospitals are coping well with the
current casualty rate and dealing with civilian casualties as
and when required.
"There is no
requirement for medical aid to be imported at the moment.
"All medical
centres and Al Zubayr hospital have recently been supplied with
requested aid."
SUFFERING:
British army doctor treats horrifically injured Iraqi child in
Basra last week
Veterans of the last
Gulf War condemned the medical pull out.
Retired Sgt Charles
Plumridge, 62, who spent 23 years in the Royal Army Medical
Corps, said: "It's a deplorable decision. I feel so angry
about this. The MoD should show a little bit of humanity and
leave the field hospitals out there to help the Iraqis.
"Keeping them out
would show the world we are not brutal killers but gentle,
qualified professionals who help the injured and sick."
Mr Plumridge, who was
with 32 Field Hospital, said: "They have the finest
equipment and excellent medical staff who could help save
hundreds of people out there."
Private Tony Flint, who
served with in 205 General Hospital in Riyadh during the last
Gulf War, said: "It's just an exercise to save the army
money.
"When we were out
in the Gulf, we estimated it cost about a million pounds a week
to keep out hospital out there.
"It sounds like a
lot but compared to the other costs of war, it's nothing."
Mr Flint, from
Tottenham, North London, said medical supplies are sometimes
dumped before staff return home.
"Last time a team
of 10 of us spent a day slashing open packets of plasma and
pouring it down the sink because they didn't want us to bring it
back," he said.
Veteran Simon Weston,
who was horrifically burned in the Falklands War, also believes
the Government should keep medical staff in place.
He said: "It seems
daft to me to take it out of theatre at a time when there are
hundreds of Iraqi civilians so badly injured and in need of
urgent medical help.
"If we are
prepared to spend money on the war in the first place we should
be prepared to spend it on medical aid.
"These decisions
are made by accountants."
HOW YOU CAN
HELP VICTIMS
You can use Visa,
Mastercard or Switch over the phoneline.
Or you can send in a
cheque or postal order to Daily Mirror Ali Appeal, PO Box 6867,
London, E14 5AN.
In the UK you can walk
into any branch of Natwest bank and make a donation to the Ali
appeal, account number 39034356, sort code 60-00-01.
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