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April 2, 2003, Press Association The following is a pooled despatch from Gethin Chamberlain of the Scotsman with the Black Watch Thousands of boxes of children's medicines seized by British troops on a raid on a militia headquarters in the town of Az Zubayr, near Basra, are being given out to parents by army doctors in the town in an attempt to win over the local population. British troops found enough medicines, including antibiotics and treatments for pneumonia and tapeworm, for 10,000 children when they searched a health centre last week which had been taken over by the Baath Party and militia in the town. Now they have decided to try to get the medicine, which had been left in a storeroom, into circulation by setting up their own clinic in a temporary military compound in the town. Three army doctors have been made available to see children who are being brought to the compound by their parents, and British military officials hope that the move will convince the local population that they are there to help. One of the first cases brought into the hospital involved two women and two young children whose car had hit a land mine. Both women had serious leg and foot injuries and a piece of shrapnel had severed a muscle in an arm. The youngest child, an 18-month old baby, suffered minor facial injuries and the other child, a boy aged about nine, had shrapnel wounds to his legs and arms. Yesterday, Lance Corporal Fred Simpson, one of the army medics who treated them, said they were brought in by an army ambulance alerted to the accident by the sound of the explosion. He said: "The shrapnel had come through the floor of the car and the ladies both had foot injuries from the shrapnel. They were both very shaken up and one of them was in severe pain. The young lad was more shocked and dazed than worried by the injuries." He said the mine, believed to have been laid by the Iraqi army, was a "jumping jack" which is catapulted up to waist height before exploding to cause maximum injury rather than to kill. The most seriously injured woman is not expected to walk again for at least six months. The casualties were taken to a British field hospital after initial treatment because British officials believe that the main hospital in the town will not offer help to civilians unless they are members of the Baath party. "The Baath party still has a grip on the hospital which is very frustrating because we know we could treat them better there. The doctors can't dish out medicine because the Baath party is holding on to it," he explained. He said they were pleased with the number of people who had started turning up at the makeshift clinic and four or five people each day were being sent on for further treatment at field hospitals, mainly suffering from burns from attempting to cook on open fires. One young girl was brought in after falling into a bowl of boiling water and yesterday about a dozen women with children were waiting outside for medical attention. "The majority of people are pleased to see us but they are very very scared of reprisals at the moment," he said. British doctors have also a treated a number of injured Iraqi soldiers., including one man believed to be a Republican Guard member who appeared to have been beaten by his own side. "He had a head injury which we treated that was a couple of days old, but he died in the field hospital," he said. "It looked like it was done by his own people it looked like he had been malleted." But attempts to recruit Iraqi doctors and translators have hit problems because people say they are scared of reprisals from the Iraqi regime. Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Beaton, senior medical officer with the Black Watch battle group, said he was concerned that those who were helping the British could face death. "There are absolutely petrified of helping," he said. "The militia are definitely still out there, they have got a grip on the psyche, almost in a Northern Ireland type of way." "The hospital is run by the Baath party for the Baath party and we want to get control of it and tell them it is under new management. I have had two doctors who want to work for us but they are petrified. He said he was concerned for the safety of one young man who had volunteered to act as a translator in the British health clinic. "I just hope he doesn't get topped for talking to us," he said. The translator name withheld for obvious reasons said he was worried for his safety but intended to continue to help. "I came to help but the Baath party think I am a spy," he said.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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