Iraq's wounded: on their own
Nearly 37,000 Iraqis were injured last year alone. Though programs exist to help them, many find hope only when they take matters into their own hands.
from the April 11, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Government is overwhelmed
An official at the Ministry of Labor admits the process to compensate victims is slow.
"We are overwhelmed by the backlog of cases," says Raad Qasim, who speaks of efforts to streamline it.
But Mowaffaq al-Khafaji, who heads the Iraqi Handicapped and Survival society, says there is "complete disregard" by the government for the plight of the severely wounded and disabled.
"Unfortunately, government officials are only preoccupied with what benefits them personally and their political parties," he says.
He is focusing his efforts instead on rallying support and funding from foreign NGOs but says that most of them are hesitant to commit to projects in Iraq because security threats prevent them from following up on the ground. Most operate now within the relative safety of the northern Kurdistan region or neighboring Jordan.
At least 84 aid workers have been killed in Iraq over the past three years, according to Cedric Turlan of the Amman-based NCCI (NGOs Coordinating Committee in Iraq).
But Mr. Khafaji says, "I am an activist, I am going to keep trying."
Iraqi exposing issue is threatened
An Iraqi doctor says Iraq still has good healthcare and rehabilitation professionals despite the brain drain, but that the main problem is the lack of infrastructure and systems to support their work. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he recently wrote a piece for a Western medical journal detailing the plight of the country's health system and promptly received a call from someone at the Ministry of Health telling him, "shut up or you will follow the dead and wounded."
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