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Source: https://www.thenational.ae/world/men...ties-1.1046806
July 9, 2020
Bodies lay in the sun as Iraq’s morgues overflow with Covid-19 casualties
As hospitals struggle to help those still alive, the dead find little reverence in Baghdad
Sinan Mahmoud
Under the scorching heat of Iraq’s summer sun, at least four bodies of Covid-19 victims lay under sheets outside a Baghdad hospital morgue.
Nearby, the doors of one section of the mortuary lay open, the cooling systems inside is broken. It hasn’t dropped below 40 degrees Celsius in the last week in Baghdad.
“They are here from yesterday under the sun,” says a man in a video shared widely on social media. Stood outside the mortuary of Al Kindi Hospital, he cries as he uncovers the body of his uncle.
“The mortuary is full, we are waiting for a car to pick them up,” the weeping man says.
The recent spike in coronavirus cases across the country has put Iraq’s healthcare system – decimated by decades of war, sanctions and corruption – on the brink of collapse.
Rundown hospitals, many built between the late 1970s and early 1980s, are overflowing. Most medicines and medical supplies are only available on the black market and medical staff are dying due to a lack of protective measures.
Desperate Iraqis are sending out appeals on social media seeking medicine, blood plasma and empty beds for loved ones suffering the effects of Covid-19.
One online video shows people scuffling over oxygen tanks outside a hospital...
July 9, 2020
Bodies lay in the sun as Iraq’s morgues overflow with Covid-19 casualties
As hospitals struggle to help those still alive, the dead find little reverence in Baghdad
Sinan Mahmoud
Under the scorching heat of Iraq’s summer sun, at least four bodies of Covid-19 victims lay under sheets outside a Baghdad hospital morgue.
Nearby, the doors of one section of the mortuary lay open, the cooling systems inside is broken. It hasn’t dropped below 40 degrees Celsius in the last week in Baghdad.
“They are here from yesterday under the sun,” says a man in a video shared widely on social media. Stood outside the mortuary of Al Kindi Hospital, he cries as he uncovers the body of his uncle.
“The mortuary is full, we are waiting for a car to pick them up,” the weeping man says.
The recent spike in coronavirus cases across the country has put Iraq’s healthcare system – decimated by decades of war, sanctions and corruption – on the brink of collapse.
Rundown hospitals, many built between the late 1970s and early 1980s, are overflowing. Most medicines and medical supplies are only available on the black market and medical staff are dying due to a lack of protective measures.
Desperate Iraqis are sending out appeals on social media seeking medicine, blood plasma and empty beds for loved ones suffering the effects of Covid-19.
One online video shows people scuffling over oxygen tanks outside a hospital...