Capt. Evan Jones, physician’s assistant, 4th Infantry Division, checks a local boy at a medical operation in Hor al-Bash on Sunday. Department of Defense photo by Army Sgt. 1st Class Joe Flores, 4th ID.
Posted on 08/27/2006 12:46:59 PM PDT by SandRat
By Sgt. 1st Class Joe Flores
4th Infantry Division
CAMP TAJI -- Under the blazing Iraqi sun, Iraqi Army and Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers fought the heat to conduct a community health outreach for the people of Hor al-Bash on Sunday.Capt. Evan Jones, physician’s assistant, 4th Infantry Division, checks a local boy at a medical operation in Hor al-Bash on Sunday. Department of Defense photo by Army Sgt. 1st Class Joe Flores, 4th ID.
Soldiers of the 9th Iraqi Army Division and the U.S.' 4th Infantry Division, with the help of medics from the 414th Civil Affairs Battalion, joined together with six Iraqi medics to screen patients and provide medical assistance to local residents.
"Our mission was to conduct a medical operation at the Tartawar Primary School and provide local citizens with free pharmaceuticals and screening for the day," said Capt. William LeFever, a civil affairs officer. "We supplied about $5,000 worth of pharmaceuticals purchased from a local pharmacy."
The combined effort also provided the Soldiers an opportunity to deliver supply kits to the facility as faculty and community members prepare for the upcoming school year, LeFever said.
Such medical and humanitarian relief operations occur regularly in conjunction with the larger effort to bring stability and security to Iraq. MND-B Soldiers have specifically been concentrating their efforts in the region north of Baghdad.
For many Iraqis, this is the first time they have ever been seen by a doctor.
"I have been waiting for Coalition forces to come here to see my children," said a local woman. "Two of my four children have had a bad cough lately and there really is no other way for them to be seen by a doctor unless I drive to Baghdad. What they are doing is wonderful."
While combined operations such as the one in Hor al-Bash continue, Iraq's military is also working to develop a domestic medical capability.
The country's military medical system is not yet equal to its U.S. counterpart, but is improving on a daily basis, the surgeon general of Iraq’s armed forces said in Washington last week.
"We are in the process of building this system," Iraqi Army Brig. Gen. Samir A. Hassan said. "We have expanded more and more to meet the expansion of the armed forces."
During his tour through Washington, Samir met with U.S. defense officials, including Dr. William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. He also visited the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.
Samir expressed hope some of his doctors might travel to Walter Reed for training.
"I don't know of other people who are doing this massive research just to support medicine," he said. "It is very important to take care of your soldiers. This affects the morale of the soldiers during fighting."
He explained the Iraqi military medical system gets help from the United States, but is a completely separate system. "We are doing our own, but with their help," he said. "We tell them what we need, and they try to facilitate our mission."
The Iraqi military has good Level II medical centers, which provide basic emergency care, he said. But the military depends on the country's civilian Ministry of Health for sophisticated Level I trauma care, like major surgery. Still, by the end of 2008, Iraq will have its first full-scale military hospital, Samir predicted.
Samir was the first medical officer to join the new Iraqi Army. He said he volunteered because he was eager to serve his country, but now he names a shortage of doctors joining the Iraqi security forces as one of his biggest challenges.
"It's my country," he said. "If I don’t go and the others don’t go, who will build the country?"
(With additional reporting by Steven Donald Smith, American Forces Press Service)
Wonder when we'll hear this on the LameStreamMedia???
"For many Iraqis, this is the first time they`ve seen a doctor."
The MSM would only cover this news if it were a *Cuban* doctor.
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