By Omar al-Ibadi
Reuters, 21 March 2006
BAGHDAD - Doctors at one of Baghdad's busiest hospitals called off a day-old strike on Tuesday but banned police from entering the building to prevent a repeat of the police attacks on staff that provoked the walk-out.
A security official at Yarmouk hospital said wounded policemen and other security force personnel would now be handed over for treatment at the main gate of the compound but comrades escorting them would not be allowed beyond that point.
"We demand that representatives of the Defence and Interior ministries prevent any assault by security forces and keep weapons out of the hospital," its director, Haqi Ismail, said.
He threatened to shut it down again if violence resumed.
Yarmouk has one of the busiest, and bloodiest, emergency rooms in the world, taking in thousands of victims of bombings and shootings since the U.S.-led invasion three years ago.
Striking doctors shut it down on Monday and said the government would face the prospect of an exodus of physicians unless it protected them from violence at the hands of police.
Similar strikes have hit Yarmouk and other hospitals before.
"The emergency room will be opened and cases will be received but this will depend on the cooperation between the Interior Ministry and doctors. If the abuse is repeated in the future, doctors will stop working completely," said Ismail.
The strike was launched after a surgeon treating victims of a roadside bomb attack heard screaming and discovered a member of the security forces was beating one of his staff.
The doctor, Ali Abdul Wahid, said he asked the officer why he was violent and was told: "We are the government and we do what we want."
Doctors and nurses left the hospital, the emergency room was abandoned and the gates of the hospital were locked.
Health Ministry official Adel Mohsen told Reuters the beating did not reflect the policies of the Interior Ministry, which he said condemned Monday's assault.
He said the Interior Ministry apologised and had arrested the serviceman who attacked the hospital staff member.
An increasing number of Iraqi doctors say it is becoming impossible to do their jobs.
Many have left the country, which is starved of medical equipment, medicine and funding for run-down hospitals still suffering from U.S. sanctions imposed under Saddam Hussein.
Doctors often complain that the Shi'ite-dominated security forces have stormed into Baghdad hospitals and beaten up physicians if they are not satisfied with the treatment given to comrades fighting a Sunni Arab insurgency.
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Citation: Omar al-Ibadi. "Baghdad doctors end strike, ban police from wards," Reuters, 21 March 2006.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/GEO139774.htm
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