GENEVA, 13 April 2003 — Medical care at major Baghdad hospitals remains virtually paralyzed, the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday, again urging US forces to protect health workers in the Iraqi capital. An ICRC spokeswoman said the United States had started preliminary contacts with the Swiss-based humanitarian agency about what priorities to set in restoring order after Saddam Hussein’s administration collapsed under a US onslaught.

Spokeswoman Antonella Notari in Geneva said ICRC colleagues in Baghdad had not moved around the city much so far yesterday due to reports of continued looting and gunfire. In some neighborhoods, armed vigilantes have taken to the streets to catch looters themselves. “The reports they are getting — and they did have to visit some of the surgeons from the various hospitals around town — are still very alarming. The medical staff continues to feel under threat, the hospitals are still not secured at the moment,” the spokeswoman for the Swiss-based agency said.

“It is still extremely difficult to move around town, even for patients needing medical care. Those with chronic conditions who need follow-up treatment don’t know where to go any more,” she said. “Those big hospitals which have capacity for war surgery and for more sophisticated treatment are ransacked to a great extent. We remain extremely alarmed about the situation.”

The ICRC has said the 33 hospitals in the city of five million people were in no shape to cope with war-wounded or patients with chronic diseases like diabetes. Notari said talks had started with US officials on what action to take in Baghdad. “There seem to be some moves from the American side to consult us on where do we think the priorities lie, where do we think action can be taken,” she said.

“For us the message is very clear. If there is security people might come back to work, people might resume their tasks, but for the time being more than anything else what the coalition forces need to do is to ensure security around vital infrastructure,” she said. Notari said coalition forces in Iraq were an occupying power under international law and thus had an obligation to administer vital public services.

Meanwhile, two US C-130 transport planes flew medical supplies from Kuwait to Baghdad late on Friday to help strapped hospitals cope with casualties from the US-led assault on the Iraqi capital. The 20 tons of supplies donated by the Kuwaiti government were among the first badly needed equipment and medicines to reach Baghdad. Supplies included first aid equipment to treat war wounded, mobile operating theaters, insulin and baby milk.

Small photographs of some of the 600-plus Kuwaitis who went missing during Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait in 1990-1991 were stuck to the side of the aid packages. Kuwaiti Health Minister Muhammad Al-Jarallah, watching the supplies being loaded at Kuwait military airport, said more medical assistance and food aid would follow. “Whenever the situation settles and we receive a request from the coalition, we are ready to send more help, even medical personnel to help the people of Iraq,” he said.

ICRC Director General for the Middle East and North Africa Balthasar Staehelin said the situation in Baghdad was dramatic. “What is tragic is that you have a significant number of expatriates and supplies in countries around Iraq, a number of institutions ready to act ... but there is a climate of insecurity that makes any activity in Iraq extremely precarious,” he said.