- GENEVA (Reuters) - The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday that Baghdad's medical
system had all but collapsed because of combat damage, looting and fear
of anarchy.
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- It said that hardly any medical or hospital support staff
were reporting for work and that patients had either fled or been left
without care.
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- "The medical system in Baghdad has virtually collapsed,"
the Geneva-based humanitarian group said in a statement.
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- Earlier, spokeswoman Nada Doumani had told Reuters that
the ICRC doubted that any hospitals were still working in the capital because
of the anarchy reigning on the streets.
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- "The ICRC is profoundly alarmed by the chaos currently
prevailing in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq. Lawless persons, sometimes
armed, have been ransacking and looting even essential public facilities
such as hospitals," it said.
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- The ICRC called on U.S.-led coalition forces, which control
most of the capital, rapidly to restore order saying that it was their
duty under the Geneva Conventions setting out the rules of war.
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- "In areas under their control, the coalition forces
have specific responsibilities as occupying powers under international
humanitarian law," the ICRC said.
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- Doumani quoted ICRC official Roland Huguenin-Benjamin
in the Iraqi capital as saying that ..."probably there are no more
hospitals functioning because of looting, lack of medical personnel; people
are scared."
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- "It is anarchy," she quoted him as saying.
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- Reuters correspondents in Baghdad said looting continued
two days after U.S. forces swept into the center of the capital, ending
President Saddam Hussein's rule.
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- An ICRC team ventured out on to the streets but had not
been able to visit all the city's hospitals on Friday, Doumani said.
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- However, they did go to the 650-bed Medical City where
they found very few people. "Operating theaters are no longer functioning.
There are no more instruments in any case," Doumani said.
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- On Thursday, the Swiss-based agency had reported that
the Al Kindi hospital in central Baghdad was attacked by armed looters
who had stripped it of everything, including beds, electrical fittings
and medical equipment.
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- Doumani said that Al Kindi was empty on Friday.
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- She said that there were risks of epidemics because the
city was also without clean water and electricity.
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- President Bush promised Iraqis in a videotaped message
on Thursday that the United States and its war allies would help maintain
law and order. A spokesman said it would take time for the security situation
to stabilize.
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