Soundings: Good morning Iraq
2005; BMJ; Volume: 330; Issue: 7496 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0959-8138
Autores Tópico(s)Health and Conflict Studies
ResumoThe Hilton Resort Kuwait is posh. It has expensive shops, a palm-fringed beach, and electric buggies to ferry guests to their villas. Well out of the city centre, it feels secure. The guards at the fortified gate use mirrors to look under your taxi. We were running a training course on obstetric emergencies and trauma. The ballroom was full of doctors from Kuwait and Iraq, some from places familiar from news bulletins. It hadn't been an easy drive, they told us, but clearly they felt it was worth the trouble. You might think that doctors from a recent war zone had little to learn about trauma. Our young British team was part of an initiative that has raised emergency training to a new level (I learnt a lot) but perhaps the delegates had been attracted more by the chance to make contact with international medicine. Our hand luggage had contained latex female torsos which, as it turned out, shortened the airport security checks. As the delegates sat round them in small groups, rapport came easily. They soon realised we had seen action in the labour ward and we realised they were academically gifted people. During the 1990s maternal mortality in Iraq rose to medieval levels as a result of sanctions. Many women and babies died for want of drugs and transfusions. A hidden tragedy, as always. Maternal death, unlike bombing or gassing, never makes the front page. The doctors were matter of fact about the war but critical of the failure to plan for its aftermath, though only when asked. Their conversation was courteous and guarded. Looking into their eyes you sensed a depth of life experience that you couldn't fully understand and didn't really want to. There were surprises. Some Iraqi doctors were fluent in catch phrases from Little Britain. A sponsor had placed two gleaming Range Rovers beside the podium. The trip was organised by a charity, Baby Lifeline, and at the front desk the British ambassador's wife was helping out and selling her own marmalade to raise funds. The delegates' hunger for knowledge was inspiring. Home again, the trainers began emailing one another about how to improve their manual. You don't often see pure altruism these days but when you do, it's a beautiful sight.
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