April 6
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS DAILY BULLETIN
Today, Sunday 6 April, the ICRC was continuing emergency activities in Baghdad, as follows.
Emergency medical treatment
Heavy artillery fire and military operations overnight from Friday to Saturday brought in a steady influx of war-wounded at a rate of about 100 patients an hour to the Al-Yarmouk hospital up to midday on Saturday. They were given emergency first-aid treatment and were subsequently transferred to other hospitals around town for further treatment and surgery when necessary.
No-one is able any longer to keep accurate statistics on admissions and transfers of the war-wounded, as one emergency arrival follows another in the hospitals of Baghdad. Ambulances are picking up the wounded and running them to the triage areas and on to hospitals. Some of the wounded try to reach the nearest hospitals by foot.
All the hospitals are under pressure and medical staff are working without respite. Despite the intense and desperate activity, hospital staff are still managing the situation. Doctors who had spontaneously offered their assistance are reinforcing medical teams in the emergency units. Dressing and surgical equipment was still available yesterday (5 April) in sufficient quantities.
Given the reduced water pressure and supply from the majority of the treatment plants, hospitals in Baghdad had not been permanently supplied with piped water and are in urgent need of stocks of supplementary water. The ICRC water bags pre-positioned over previous days and weeks had mainly been used up by yesterday (5 April) in the five main surgical hospitals of Baghdad, and an additional 30,000 one-litre bags will be distributed to those locations as soon as possible. Additional stocks of water in bladders (used for cleaning, washing and other purposes) are being provided by water trucks to Al-Kindi and Al-Kharh hospitals and this activity will be extended as from today to other hospitals.
The emergency purification units and the compact water treatment unit installed by the ICRC in previous weeks have been operating since Thursday night to provide emergency water to the four hospitals of Medical City, as the nearby Wathba water treatment plant has been out of operation.
Without the emergency operation of the ICRC units and the use of some of the 35,000 one-litre water bags pre-positioned in those hospitals, there would have been a serious hygiene problem in the sectors and units of Medical City.
Water and habitat
...in Baghdad
Emergency assessments were carried out on Saturday in various sectors of Baghdad City to evaluate the impact on water production and supplies to hospitals as a result of the lack of power supply since Thursday evening. Most hospitals and water installations are now powered by back-up generators for most of the time .
The ICRC is receiving many reports of technical problems and requests for service kits, spare parts and repairs. Repairs were carried out at Al-Wathba water-treatment plant and at Doura water-treatment plant, which supplies water to Al-Yarmouk surgical hospital.
...and outside Baghdad
Reports from Al-Anbar governorate indicate that the three generators supplied last week by the ICRC have been installed and successfully put into operation, benefiting more than 60,000 people deprived of water supplies since 29 March.
BASRA
The convoy that transported medical materials to Basra on 4 April returned to Kuwait on 5 April. It was carrying the mortal remains of the British Independent Television News (ITN) correspondent, Terry Lloyd, located at a hospital in Basra. The remains were handed over to the British authorities. Despite repeated attempts, the ICRC has so far not been able to establish the whereabouts of two other ITN journalists reported missing.
According to latest reports from the field, ICRC delegates will remain at the delegation today and local colleagues are staying with their families.
Herewith a summary report from our medical delegate on the situation in Basra over the last week (as at 5 April):
General situation last week in Basra, and ICRC activities
Most of the bombing was taking place either late evening or early morning. There was little movement in the streets at night but activity during the day appeared to be increasing, with vehicles circulating and shops opening. Fresh supplies of fruit and vegetables were reaching the city.
The ICRC paid regular visits to three surgical reference hospitals. The situation was so far under control, with sufficient supplies of most drugs. The medical staff appeared to be well prepared to face emergencies, being very competent and experienced. However, some of the nursing staff, especially the women, were not at work in recent days because of the crisis. Some surgical materials, especially catheters and anaesthetic materials, as well as blankets and sheets, were in short supply and were brought in by the ICRC on 4 April.
During the first three days of fighting around Basra, the hospitals were reporting admissions of about 100 war-wounded a day. More recently, the number was down to between 15 and 25.
The big problem was clean water supply: hospitals either did not have enough water or had to use untreated water. The ICRC, via public contractors, is now trucking in 10,000 litres of treated water per day per hospital.
On Saturday 5 April, supplementary water trucking continued, using four ICRC tankers. The ICRC also planned urgently to install at each hospital large bladder tanks, which had been provided by UNICEF and were brought in on the convoy of 4 April.
There were no indications of a public health crisis such as outbreaks of epidemics. However, an increase in cases of diarrhoea was noted.
ARBIL
Local ICRC staff reported shelling during the night from Saturday to Sunday in Dohuk. They visited Dohuk hospital this morning and reported that it had during the night admitted 11 war-wounded patients, who were receiving treatment. For the time being, the hospital was able to cope with the demands being made on it.
Visits to Iraqi POWs held by the coalition
As of Saturday 5 April, some 3,700 prisoners had been seen by ICRC delegates. Additional Iraqi POWs continued to arrive at the coalition camp in southern Iraq, which now holds about 4,500 POWs.
Unfortunately, the ICRC was not yet given the possibility to visit coalition POWs held by the Iraqi authorities.
Re-establishing family links
On Saturday, 56 families in Baghdad made use of the ICRC's satellite telephone to contact their relatives abroad and to give them news on their health and whereabouts.
(Please see the Family News Network for information on this programme).
UPDATE: All information in following section dates from Sunday, 6 April.
BAGHDAD
General situation
During the day, a number of military engagements took place, initially on the outskirts of the city, but later on also in central areas. The situation was increasingly unpredictable, and ICRC staff moving around Baghdad were proceeding with extreme caution. Many of the city's electricity grids were not working, and less than 20% of households were receiving power – albeit limited – during the night. Most hospitals visited had, however, been hooked up to emergency feeder lines, providing power for at least a few hours a day.
Family links
The ICRC office was inundated by Baghdad residents wishing to call their relatives abroad. The fact that people manage to make their way to the office in these dangerous and difficult times, and are prepared to wait for more than an hour to make a two-minute call, illustrates just how important this service is for Iraqis. The ICRC office will try to further improve procedures so that the waiting time is reduced.
Medical activities
ICRC medical staff visited three hospitals in the city. Undoubtedly, the resources and staff of these hospitals are being stretched to their limits by the current situation. Between them they treated several hundred war-wounded patients on Saturday, 5 April. In the morning of 6 April there appeared to be a lull in the number of new admissions of war-wounded, but this was judged unlikely to last long. A major problem being faced by the hospitals is that their personnel are finding it increasingly difficult to come to work.
The ICRC provided Al-Kindi general hospital with one first-aid-post kit for 100 war-wounded patients and 50 body bags. The medical needs at Al-Yarmouk general teaching hospital were mostly covered for the time being.
Water
The ICRC supplied five main surgical hospitals with emergency drinking water (80,000 litres by water tanker and 23,000 one-litre plastic bags). Four additional water storage bladder tanks were installed at three hospitals to serve emergency units and services such as laundries and kitchens. In addition, the ICRC finished installing steel ground storage tanks at two hospitals, increasing by 50% the amount of water available for operating theatres and emergency units. The ICRC continued to assist several hospitals with maintaining and repairing back-up generator systems.
The ICRC provided additional drinking water to several suburbs in central and northern Baghdad that are not connected to, or only poorly supplied by, the piped-water network. About 70,000 people in the affected areas benefited from the ICRC's help, with nine tanker trucks supplying dozens of water distribution points.
The ICRC technical team carried out a number of rapid assessments of water and sanitation facilities (such as water-treatment plants, reservoir stations and sewerage pumping stations). A number of these structures were only operating at minimum capacity owing to the absence of plant engineers and operators and because of the intermittent power supply. The ICRC was unable to reach several sites because of the security situation. However, ICRC technicians and companies contracted by the organization managed to carry out repair and maintenance work on back-up generators in some sites, including the Hay Akad complex, which was restarted after a three-day interruption to the benefit of 25,000 people in the Rashad area.
BASRA
As a result of heavy fighting in and around Basra, ICRC expatriate staff did not move around the city. Local staff were told to stay at home with their families.
Nonetheless, it was possible to install water bladder tanks in Basra hospitals. Water trucking activities also continued in the city.
The ICRC team finished a first visit to a coalition camp holding Iraqi POWs in southern Iraq.
ARBIL
The ICRC visited 48 Iraqi nationals held by Iraqi Kurdish factions.
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