Displaced Iraqi physicians adjusting to life in Erbil, awaiting return to Baghdad  
By LCHR correspondent Rhona Davis

The following report was written by Rhona Davis, who is currently teaching English in Erbil, Iraq.  Rhona conducts periodic interviews with individuals in and around Erbil in an effort to better assess the human rights situation there.  This report, written in late November 2007, concerns the status of a group of displaced Iraqi physicians from Baghdad. 

Ramzy is a senior obstetrician and gynecologist living in Erbil, Kurdistan. He left Baghdad after his uncle, an ear, nose and throat specialist, was kidnapped. At first the kidnappers demanded $500,000 for his release, but eventually this was negotiated down to 51 million Iraqi dinar (approximately $42,000). After he was released he asked Ramzy to leave Iraq because the kidnappers knew about the family. First Ramzy went to Amman, but after five months of looking unsuccessfully for work, he came to Erbil and later he brought his family from Baghdad to join him. He now feels happy regarding his family and he has noticed the difference in his three-year old son, who acts like a normal child once again and is more sociable and no longer afraid of explosions or even of planes flying overhead.

The other doctors at the private practice they have set up share similar stories. They left Baghdad because of the security situation there, spent time in Syria, Jordan or the UAE, but came to Erbil when they were not able to find work and their money started to run out. In Erbil they work a combination of jobs, both in their private clinic and in the state hospital.

Their private patients come from all over. Some are other IDPs from Baghdad who know them, others are local people. The main problem for the doctors is that they need translators for the Kurdish-speaking patients. However, those working in gynecology also find significant differences between the situation in Kurdistan, compared with that in Baghdad. Although the doctors are very motivated and the labour ward is well-equipped, there is only one maternity hospital and therefore it is overloaded and the doctors are under pressure to work long hours.

Another problem is the attitude of local people, especially those coming from the rural areas around Erbil, toward hospitals. As the first qualified male specialist gynecologist in the area, Ramzy faces the problem of the traditional attitude of the local people who are more used to women attending them when they give birth. Women are also more likely to give birth at home with the assistance of local midwives, who may not be well trained. They tend to associate giving birth in hospital with having a caesarian and therefore prefer to stay at home. When there are problems the midwives do not refer the mothers to hospital soon enough, so the women often arrive at the hospital too late, especially if they have to make a long journey there, which leads to the deaths of some mothers and their babies.

These doctors have left behind their homes and practices in Baghdad. The only reason for leaving was because of the need for safety, so, although they feel safe in Kurdistan and find people kind and helpful, they generally look forward to the time when they can go back. One couple have heard from the neighbors left looking after their house that it has been broken into and is occupied by strangers. However, there are also reports that the violence in Baghdad is decreasing and there are already people going back, usually because they have run out of money and cannot find work, so they all have very strong hopes that they will be able to return within the next few years, the most optimistic thinking that it will be possible to go back in two years and resume their former life.