BAGHDAD, 26 September 2005 — One of Iraq’s most precious resources — doctors — are fleeing the country in increasing numbers, scared off by persistent violence and drawn to safer, better paying jobs abroad, officials say.
A steady trickle of skilled workers has been flowing out of the country since the 2003 invasion, but in the past year, with the sharp rise in assassinations and kidnappings by insurgents, the exodus of doctors has picked up, they say. “Iraq is like a battlefield, doctors face danger just getting to work because of terrorist acts,” said Aakif Al-Alusi, a senior member of the Iraqi Doctors’ Syndicate, the official medics’ register, who worries about the long-term social impact of the medical brain-drain.
“Doctors are neutral people in our society, all sides have to allow them to carry out their duties, but that doesn’t happen here,” he said, explaining the reasons why doctors are leaving. The syndicate estimates 1,500 medical professionals — doctors, nurses, dentists and pharmacists — have fled in the past year alone, although precise numbers are difficult to obtain. Almost as many left in 2003 and in 2004, Alusi said. Many have fled to Jordan and other Arab countries, while others have moved to Europe.
Scores have also headed to the northern Kurdish region of Iraq, where there is much less violence and where pay and conditions are far better than in the centre of the country.
“Doctors feel like they give a lot to society, but society often neglects them in response,” Alusi said. “That’s a major reason why they end up wanting to go elsewhere.”
Doctors have even gone on strike at hospitals in Baghdad and Baquba, north of the capital, after Iraqi soldiers overran their clinics, demanding at gunpoint that their men be treated first. “After the 2003 invasion, new graduates still dream of going abroad if they can find a good opportunity,” said Mohammed Salah Al-Din, who left medical school in 1999 and is looking to leave.
For Iraqis, the exodus of such skilled members of society is a deep concern. “Iraqi doctors are good, I consider them among the best and wouldn’t want to be treated by anyone else,” said Najat Al- Azawi, a retired engineer.
