MANAMA, 9 October 2006 — Forty-five Iraqi children arrived in Bahrain yesterday from Baghdad to receive urgently needed medical treatment. Five other children were expected to arrive in the coming days as part of an agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO).
The move came in response to a call to help fund treatment for seriously ill Iraqi children by the head of the newly-established Organization for Culturing and Care of Iraq Children (OCCIC), renowned Iraqi composer Naseer Shamma.
OCCIC official Amjad Suhail said the children had been selected by a joint Bahraini-Iraqi medical committee, adding that the youngest was a three-month-old baby.
Suhail said the children were to undergo treatment and surgery for conditions including cardiovascular illness, cancer, burns and bone disease beginning today.
Twelve of the children need surgical and cardiovascular treatment and are to be transferred to the Bahrain Defense Forces Hospital. The others would be treated at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC).
