Hospitals admitting hundreds of cases every hour

Ali Ismail Abbas, 12, wounded during an airstrike lies in a hospital bed in Baghdad on Sunday. Abbas was fast asleep when a missile obliterated his home and most of his family, leaving him orphaned, badly burned and blowing off both his arms

Hospitals admit 100 cases every hour

As UN relief agencies warn of a health crisis facing Baghdad’s five million inhabitants, Al Jazeera correspondent Diyar Omari has reported seeing “uncountable” cases of wounded people in the capital’s main hospitals.

In a visit to the Al Yarmouk and Al Kindi hospitals, Omari says he witnessed an “uncountable number of injured people whose number is increasing every minute.

“Doctors in these hospitals confirm they are facing a great challenge” given the effects of 12 years of sanctions on Baghdad’s hospitals.

Omari reports that doctors have “confirmed (patients) are receiving strange and unknown injuries, which appear to confirm that coalition forces are using…new kind of bombs.”

With fighting raging Monday afternoon in the area of Baghdad's landmark al-Rashid hotel, Baghdad hospitals reported a continuous flow of wounded victims on Sunday and warned that their meagre resources are being stretched to the limit.

“We expect a severe deterioration of the health situation during the days to come due to the daily bombardment that results in damage to infrastructure and a sharp rise in civilian casualties,” Fadela Chaib, the World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson told reporters.

WHO officials warned access to health care and drugs was becoming more difficult as stocks cannot be replenished.

“It’s certainly an emergency situation,” said Antonella Notari, chief spokesman of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The ICRC is one of the few international aid operations not to have withdrawn their staff from Iraq in the run-up to the US-led war.

Hospitals in Baghdad reported a steady stream of hundreds of patients. ICRC staff in the capital said that during the more fierce bombardments, hospitals are receiving up to 100 cases every hour.

The international aid organisation has said that while hospitals are overstretched,they have been handling the situation sufficiently and as professionally as the war allows. ICRC staff were touring hospitals and providing first aid and surgery kits, including 150 blankets and 50 body bags to Al-Yarmouk hospital.

Civilians have been caught in the crossfire over the course of this war, despite claims from Washington that this would be the ‘cleanest’ war fought so far.

Iraqi non-combatants have been shot at by both the Anglo-American troops and Baathist militiamen.

During fierce street-to-street fighting in the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Kerbala this weekend, there were several reports of civilians being caught up in the fighting.

In one case, two soldiers picked out two figures on a rooftop and quickly lined up their shot. They were stopped when their commanding officer identified their target and shouted:

"No man, that's a kid and a woman. It's a KID and a WOMAN!"

"These guys are young and most just want to get their first confirmed kill, so they're too anxious to get off shots. I hate to say 'bragging rights' but they want that kill," First Sergeant Eric Engram said.

In another incident, Engram recounts how one soldier told him he'd shot dead a Fedayeen from 500 metres after the man ignored a warning shot.

"That's not right. You get women and children on rooftops, too. And you can't see a target good at 500 metres with the naked eye."

And in Basra, Baathist militiamen with AK-47 assault rifles opened fire on civilian vehicles on Sunday, wounding one man, in an attempt to force civilians to fight US and British troops, witnesses said.

The fighting in Kerbala has revealed some of the dangers awaiting Iraqi civilians in Baghdad.

With Fedayeen stepping out of the shadows for just enough time to open fire and then disappear, even combat-hardened soldiers admit they had little or no idea where the rocket propelled grenades and assault rifle fire was coming from.

"In the desert, it's much easier. There are no civilians, you can see your target easily and whoever has weapons with the longest range has the advantage. We have the advantage," said Major Brian Pearl of the 101st Airborne Division.

"In the city, it's totally different. And you have civilians in the middle. That's when it gets difficult." --- Al Jazeera with agency inputs