Hospital fireplace in Iraq
Hospital fireplace in Iraq
Hospital fireplace in Iraq
The announcement comes as distraught relatives bury their loved ones and lash out at the government over the tragedy.
Two health officials said more than a hundred other people were injured in the fire that swept through the coronavirus ward of Al-Hussein University Hospital in the city of Nasiriyah on Monday.
This is the second catastrophic fire in less than three months to kill hospitalized Covid-19 patients in Iraq, where the fitness formula has been paralyzed by decades of war and sanctions.
Many grieving relatives wept openly, tears tinged with anger, accusing the provincial government of Dhi Qar, where Nasiriyah is located, and the federal government in Baghdad, of having suffered for several years from mismanagement and neglect.
“The total state formula has collapsed, and who has paid the price?The other people inside here. These other people have paid the price,” said Haidar al-Askari, who was at the scene of the fire.
Overnight, firefighters and rescuers, many of whom had flashlights and used blankets to extinguish small fires still burning in the locations, worked frantically searching the room in the dark.
At dawn, the sheet-covered bodies were laid on the floor outside the hospital.
Earlier, the government said the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit, but did not provide further details.
Another official said the fire broke out when an oxygen cylinder exploded.
The new ward, inaugurated three months ago, had 70 beds.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi chaired an emergency meeting after the fire and ordered the suspension and arrest of the fitness director of Dhi Qar province, where Nasiriyah is located, as well as the director of the hospital and the director of civil assistance. the city. Defense.
An investigation has also been launched.
This is the second time this year that a chimney has killed coronavirus patients in an Iraqi hospital.
At least 82 other people were killed at Baghdad’s Ibn al-Khateeb hospital in April when an oxygen tank exploded, sparking the fire.
This incident highlighted widespread neglect and systemic mismanagement in Iraqi hospitals. Doctors complained about lax protection rules around oxygen cylinders.
On Monday, Ammar al-Zamili, a spokesman for Dhi Qar’s fitness department, told local media that there were at least 63 patients in the ward when the fire broke out.
Maj. Gen. Khalid Bohan, head of Iraq’s civil defense, said in comments to reporters that the building is built of flammable and fire-prone fabrics.
Iraq is in the midst of a severe wave of Covid-19. Daily coronavirus rates peaked last week with 9,000 new cases.
After decades of war and sanctions, Iraq’s fitness industry is suffering from the influence of the virus. More than 17,000 people have died from the virus among the 1. 4 million cases recorded since the start of the pandemic.
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