MSF cautions of disastrous consequences after suspending health services in Mosul

The international humanitarian medical organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced that it is suspending essential medical services at two health facilities in Mosul after supplies ran critically low due to "complicated" official procedures regarding transporting much-needed supplies inside Iraq. 

The suspension will have grave consequences on the health of people in need in the war-torn city of Mosul, where the Islamic State (IS) proclaimed itself as a 'caliphate' following a meteoric rise in Iraq and Syria in 2014. Iraq declared victory over IS in 2017, but the city still lacks essential health facilities.

Fernando Galván, head of MSF's mission in Iraq, told The New Arab that the resumption of their activities in Mosul remains unclear, expressing extreme worry that "patients in need will not be able to afford the healthcare services elsewhere and that their conditions will deteriorate due to lack of care."

The medical facilities in question are the Al-Amal maternity clinic in West Mosul, which provides high-quality emergency maternity and neonatal care and mental healthcare, and Al-Wahda hospital in East Mosul, which provides specialist orthopaedic surgery and comprehensive post-operative care.

We've had to suspend essential medical activities in 2 health facilities in Mosul due to administrative barriers.

We call on the relevant authorities to facilitate clearance procedures so we can continue providing much-needed humanitarian aid in Iraq👇 https://t.co/hqtvt2qoHZ

— MSF International (@MSF) July 9, 2023

The MSF said on 5 June that the decision had been made "[a]fter stocks of medicines and supplies ran critically low. This decision resulted from the lengthy, complicated, and opaque official procedures that have hampered MSF from ensuring a reliable supply to the projects through Baghdad International Airport and transporting them within Iraq."

The organisation stated that it could secure the release of some of its supplies on 22 June after waiting five months to land a cargo of medical supplies at Baghdad International Airport. However, many items in the cargo "have already expired during the transit time, while those still useable will have to wait longer at MSF's warehouse in Baghdad until permission is granted to transport them to Mosul."

According to Transparency International, lengthy and complicated official procedures are chronic issues in Iraq, among the world's top corrupt states.
 
"It's highly dependent on the duration our next cargos will take to be transported to Mosul from our warehouses in Baghdad and Erbil, and other cargos in Brussels are cleared for entering the country and are transported to the project," Muhi said. "This, in turn, depends on the official procedures in place and whether they will be quickly facilitated. We hope we resume our activities as quickly as we can."
 

Regarding the expected consequences of halting MSF services in the devastated city of Mosul, she clarified that they provide services free of charge, meaning that a big part of their patients are among the most vulnerable people living in the city.

 "This is especially true for patients who have bone infections and require urgent orthopaedic surgery care for their conditions. The outcomes for patients with such conditions do not exclude very tragic results that may reach amputation due to the complications they may face or even the spread of infection throughout the body and damage to other organs or death," she alarmed.

"In our view, the issue we are facing is because the current official clearance process is lengthy and the process is not easily clear to us, many aspects of it remain opaque, and we only discover them on the spot. We are not sure where the source of this challenge is exactly," she clarified. "We have been interacting and coordinating with the authorities extensively, also having very positive results, and are ready and willing to engage further with all relevant authorities to find a solution for our condition and resume our activities as soon as possible."

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has announced fighting corruption as one of his top cabinet priorities. However, translating his words to action still lags as corruption is deep-rooted at all state institutions.   

"We have been closely updating the authorities at different levels with our status and developments, including the PM office, with very supportive outcomes. Short-, mid-and long-term solutions need to be still reached," she concluded.