- BAGHDAD (Reuters) - More than two dozen doctors
walked out of one of Baghdad's busiest hospitals on Tuesday to protest
what they said was abuse by Iraqi soldiers, leaving about 100 patients
to fend for themselves in chaotic wards.
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- Physicians said the troubles started when soldiers
barged into a woman's wing at Yarmouk hospital, opened curtains and conducted
searches as patients lay in their beds on Monday.
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- A 27-year-old internal medicine specialist said a
soldier began intimidating and abusing him.
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- "Before he left he said, 'Why are you looking
in disapproval?' Then he came and punched me lightly on my arm before sticking
his rifle into my stomach and cocking it," the doctor, who requested
anonymity for fear of reprisals, told Reuters.
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- "I stayed quiet but relatives of the patients
told him to calm down before pulling him out of the room. Just then, four
more soldiers came in and pointed a rifle at my head. At that point I became
scared and begged them to leave me alone."
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- Ministry of Defense officials were not available
for comment on the incident despite repeated requests.
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- Government Promises
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- Iraq's mayhem has spread even to hospitals, which
are overwhelmed by victims of suicide bombings and shootings whose blood
is mopped up off the floor after every attack.
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- The new Shi'ite-led government has promised Iraqis
that security forces will be built up to protect them from guerrillas,
who have killed thousands of people with suicide and car bombings.
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- Iraqis had hoped that January elections would deliver
a new era of democracy, free of the abuses committed by Saddam Hussein's
security forces.
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- But some say the country's new security forces are
too aggressive, randomly rounding up suspects and abusing them during detentions.
The government says security forces are under strict orders to respect
human rights.
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- About 30 doctors staged the strike, leaving around
100 bewildered patients behind, including a young boy of about 10.
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- Suffering from a gunshot wound to his leg, Muhammad
Hashim lay quietly in the back of an ambulance which rushed him to Yarmouk
from a town 30 kilometers southwest of Baghdad. But the strike forced his
angry father to take him to another hospital.
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- Yarmouk, a run-down, sparsely equipped building,
has treated many of Baghdad's worst cases. Overcrowded with patients and
staff, it's emergency room hosts a frenzy of activity every day.
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- Nevertheless, doctors said they would press on with
a strike to draw attention to army and security forces, whose wounded comrades
are often treated at Yarmouk and other hospitals.
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- "We know the citizens may be a little upset
but we have our rights too and we can't operate and provide a service to
people if we feel under threat," said Asaad Hindi, standing outside
the hospital with other physicians.
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- "One doctor was humiliated and sworn at. Other
doctors who were afraid hid in a room. The last time this happened we complained
to officials at the defense and interior ministries."
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- Relatives of some patients grew frustrated.
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- Khalid al-Girtani said he was angry because his 57-year-old
father Mahmoud had been ignored all day.
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- "My father has a stroke and no doctor is here
to see him, just look at him! This is ridiculous," he said as his
father lay in bed with breathing tubes in his nostrils.
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- Some patients sympathized with the doctors, despite
their medical needs.
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- "I'm ill and I haven't seen the doctor all day.
All I need is a signature from him so I can get an X-ray that I need to
see what's wrong with my neck. I think they have every right to strike
though, our doctors shouldn't be abused," said Salman Thahir, a frail
old man sitting on his bed.
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