An interview with Dr Salam Ismael, founder of Doctors for Iraq
Dr. Salam Ismael is the founder and director of “Doctors for Iraq” a non governmental organisation that operates in several Iraqi cities. He is currently undertaking a Masters in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Muhammed Jawad had a chance to speak with Salam about his work with Doctors for Iraq and his views on the current health care crisis there.
Dr Salam Ismael
At the time of the invasion in 2003, Dr. Salam Ismael was a year into his training as an orthopaedic surgeon. “I graduated from Baghdad Medical School in 2000 and trained for 2 years as a House Officer in Baghdad Medical City.” However, the war’s devastating impact saw Salam becoming more involved in relief work. “After the invasion in 2003 I started getting more involved in relief work and pursuing a more active role in public health. We established Doctors for Iraq as a reaction to the chaos of the invasion. We consisted of mainly junior doctors and residents. We were under siege for 45 days, tending to the casualties.”
Salam explained to me what type of work “Doctors for Iraq” is doing for Iraqis. “There are 3 major goals we are trying to achieve. The first and foremost is medical relief for all civilians. We are also strong advocates for the right to health, which stemmed from what we have witnessed in the field, such as bombings of clinics and hospitals and even targeting of ambulances. We also want to provide training schemes, workshops, courses and seminars for all health care workers.”
It seems evident that the serious lack of learning resources has led to a gradual halt in post graduate continuous medical education. However Doctors for Iraq is proof of what initiative can conjure. “Our first program was in December 2003, a basic histology and pathology seminar that took place at Baghdad Medical City, with about 16 doctors. It lasted a month and we even had the deputy minister of health attend our graduation ceremony”.
So how far has Doctors for Iraq come? “We started off with about 12 doctors and now we are 250. The doctors work part time, voluntarily and are all motivated by a unified cause. They are from all the usual Iraqi backgrounds, Arab, Kurd, Muslim and Christian. The bulk of our operations started in the western region of Iraq, due to the heavy American involvement in that area, but soon we had worked all the country, from Basra to Baghdad to Mosul and Diyala.”
Doctors for Iraq have also worked in conjunction with other groups such as Christian Aid to perform medical surveys and provide assistance to IDPs (internally displaced peoples) a major problem in Iraq.
I asked Salam what he thought were the major problems facing the health care system. He described to me what seemed like a leaking vessel. “Many senior doctors have left the country or have been killed, no one is filling the gap and now there is a lack of qualified teaching staff. Who is going to train the junior doctors?” He told me the radiology post graduate scheme has been out of commission for a year now. According to a UNAMI report, “12,000 out of 34,000 doctors have left Iraq, 250 have been kidnapped, and 2,000 physicians have been killed since 2003.”(1)
Something even more worrying is the ‘de-skilling’ process many doctors are going through, explains Salam. “Many of the doctors that leave are going to Jordon or Syria and are either working menial jobs or working in hospital posts they are over qualified for.” Salam believes that as part of an international society, western nations, especially those involved in the war, should take the responsibility of understanding how to utilise these displaced doctors so as to prevent this ‘de-skilling’ crisis.
The subject of Salam’s thesis is the implications of health care workers migration on the health care system in Iraq after the US led invasion in 2003. What has forced them to leave? “There are many reasons, the first of which is security. People are targeted due to ethnicity and kidnappings for ransom are commonplace. Immediately after the war another factor was if you had any affiliations with the former Baath party you were targeted.” Being a member of the Baath party was often a necessity to climb the echelons of academia during Saddam’s regime.
Since coming to the UK Salam has toured many cities and given talks in numerous universities. Students at the University of Leeds asked him how they could help out. “They started a campaign to collect old medical books that would be sent to medical students in Iraq. I particularly would like to thank Zahra from Newcastle University, she was a great help and together we collected 8000 books and 100 CDs. Students are far from immune from the violence waged by terrorist organisations and militias and this sort of work could offer glimmers of hope.” If a single institution is capable of raising 8000 books, then how about 20 or 30 universities? There’s really only one way to find out.
What’s next for Salam after he completes his degree? “I want to return to Iraq and continue working with my colleagues at Doctors for Iraq.” Let’s hope the day when all Iraqi doctors have the option of returning and serving their country free from danger is coming soon.
Muhammed Jawad
Fifth year medical student
St. George’s University of London
m0400874@sgul.ac.uk
(1) UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), Human Rights Report. 1 January – 31 March 2007.
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