Nasireyah citizens call for resignation as death toll rises due to Covid hospital hell
The death toll from a night inferno in a Covid hospital ward in southern Iraq rose to 92, amid anger and questions about the competition of the country’s fitness sector.
The timing of the fire in a coronavirus unit in the last three months. More than 80 people died in a Baghdad hospital in April. In any case, the fires would have started after the oxygen tanks were ignited.
Angry citizens of Nasireyah city set fire to two police cars and demanded responsibility for the circle of family members who died Monday at the fireplace home at Al-Hussein University Hospital. Iraqi President Barham Salih said corruption at the hospital, ravaged by the flames, had also been a factor.
The unrest of Iraq’s bloated and inefficient public sector has been highlighted by citizens who argue that the state does not contribute much despite massive revenues from oil production. The scenes of flames and smoke rising from the hospital sanctuary – twice in 3 months – have been a visceral symbol of the government’s shortcomings.
Most of those killed on Monday night were covid-19 patients, officials in Dhi Qar province said at least 3 fitness officials had also died. The hospital had stockpiled giant amounts of oxygen to treat covid patients.
“There was no screaming from inside,” said Haidar Hussein, 27, a local resident, who rushed to the hospital to check and help. “They were helpless. The inmates were already struggling to breathe and could not escape the fire.
Another man, Mohammed Khalak, 31, said his aunt died in hospital. “We took her there to save her life, to sacrifice her.
Well funded on paper, the fitness sector, like other institutions, has been plagued by corruption at all levels of government since the invasion, during which Iraq has been consistently ranked through the Global Transparency Index as one of the most corrupt countries. .
A resurgence of coronavirus cases, with the disease spreading widely in Iraq, has added to the pressure, overwhelming already overburdened services that have few to cope with the pandemic. Iraq has recorded more than 1. 4 million cases of Covid-19, with at least 17,000 deaths.
After the Baghdad chimney in April, Hassan al-Tamimi resigned as fitness minister; On Tuesday, protesters in Nasiriyah issued new calls for senior officials to resign.
“He has who we are,” said Suhail Zahra, a protester who came from beyond the city. “A country that suffers in silence. This wants to change.