Broken dreams for Iraqi children

Nine of the 55 Iraqi children who were flown recently to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for medical treatment are to be sent back to Iraq on Thursday morning because UAE doctors said their cases are hopeless.

The children are among the fourth batch of children to have arrived from Iraq seeking treatment for a number of injuries, some life-threatening, which are the direct or indirect result of the US-led occupation of Iraq.

Another 350 children, mostly from Baghdad and Mosul, are on a waiting list to come to the UAE at a later date in an initiative involving the UAE government, the Iraqi and UAE Red Crescent societies, UNICEF and local humanitarian groups in Iraq.

The parents of the children being flown back said they felt dejected by the doctors’ decision.

“We have asked that other doctors give their consultation to confirm this but Al-Mafraq hospital in Abu Dhabi [the capital, where the children were sent for treatment] seems to say that this is a hopeless case and there is no point in dealing with our children any further or transferring them to other places,” said Ahmed Khaleel, one of the parents leaving for Iraq on Thursday.

Umm Retaj’s daughter, Retaj, has a skin disorder called Ichthyosis. The mother and daughter are also scheduled to leave the UAE on Thursday because doctors are unable to treat Retaj’s condition. Umm Retaj told IRIN that the UAE Red Crescent said if she knows of any specialists abroad who can help treat her daughter, funds were available to send them to the respective country.

“The doctor informed me on Tuesday that we are among the people leaving on Thursday. He prescribed six months medication for Retaj and that’s it. I feel like I’ve been losing my battle here as I’m leaving the same way I came. I know that this medication is not the proper one for Retaj as it hasn’t worked on her before but the doctor insists that this is all he can do,” said Umm Retaj.

“I know of alternative treatments and specialists abroad who can ease Retaj’s symptoms and have made this clear to the doctors here but nothing has happened yet,” she added.

Dr Nawal Khaled, a Specialist in Ophthalmology at Al-Mafraq Hospital said, explained why these nine children were being sent back. “They have all received treatment and we are preparing the machines, prescriptions, glasses, rehabilitation equipment and prosthesis they need to take with them.

Maximum treatment

“Some of the prescriptions are for three months or six months, depending on the case, and then they will have to follow it up in Iraq after they are done. All of those who are leaving have received the maximum treatment that can be offered. Two of them have been operated on, one orthopaedic and another had an artificial prosthesis.”

“I can say that they are all satisfied and happy to go back to Iraq,” she added.

The parents, however, think otherwise.

Abu Ghofran’s daughter and Abu Seif’s son have eye impairments. After tests at Al-Mafraq Hospital led doctors to believe that nothing could be done for them there, they were sent to another hospital in the capital.

“We were told to go to the Moroccan Hospital so that they could give us the same results as Al-Mafraq, confirming that my daughter was a hopeless case,” said Abu Ghofran.

“We were told that we can go oversees for treatment if it doesn’t work here. When I explained to them that I know of successful treatments done regarding my daughter’s case in Britain and Holland, I was told by the UAE Red Crescent Society to gather the information myself and deal with it.”

The Iraqi parents said that the main problem was not about how the UAE has received their children but about the arrangements for their treatment.

Before the Iraqi children’s arrival in the UAE, their full medical reports were sent to Abu Dhabi by the Council for the Aid and Education of Iraqi Children, an Iraqi humanitarian organisation. Many of the parents were confused as to why the doctors at Al-Mafraq Hospital or the staff at the UAE Red Crescent Society did not say from the beginning that their children’s cases were hopeless.

“Why didn’t they say something from the beginning?" asked Umm Retaj. "They should have known already because they had all the information needed from the very beginning. They should have agreed on the ones that could be treated and denied the ones that couldn’t. I am positive that if they review their organisational process and realise that time is crucial for us, the UAE wouldn’t let us leave without our children being treated.”

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