Posted by Lilly from ? (160.129.27.22) on Thursday, September 26, 2002 at 11:30AM :
WHERE: AL-MANSOUR PEDIATRIC WING, SADDAM TEACHING HOSPITAL
WHEN: 10AM, TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 24TH
American Anti-War Activists to Distribute Medicines to Baghdad Hospitals
Baghdad, Sept. 24-American anti-war activists with the Iraq Peace Team
arrived in Iraq Sunday and will be distributing medicines to the primary
teaching hospital for Baghdad on Tuesday. The seven activists (Barbara
Lubin, CA; Nathan Mauger, WA; Danny Muller, IL; Bill Quigley, LA; David
Smith-Ferri, CA; Leah Wells, CA; Henry Williamson, SC) brought between
US$20,000-$30,000 worth of medicines.
The medicines were purchased and donated in the US and Jordan, and will
be given to the Al-Mansour Pediatric Wing of Saddam Teaching Hospital at
10 a.m. Included are antibiotics, prenatal vitamins, adult and
children's vitamins, antihistamines, and chemotherapy, hypertension and
anti-nausea medications. IV catheters, syringes, alcohol swabs, rubber
gloves and other medical equipment will also be donated to the hospital.
Henry Williamson, a practicing paramedic, supervised the purchase of the
most of the medicines. "We offer these medicines as a gift of peace in
hope that alternatives to Bush's insatiable desire for war will be
sought by all nations." he said. Williamson served three tours of duty
in the Vietnam War as a combat medic and volunteered to serve in the
Gulf War. He first traveled to Iraq in 1998. Williamson will be staying
in Iraq for several months with Iraq Peace Team.
In addition to giving the hospital medicines, Iraq Peace Team activists
will meet with doctors and patients and talk about what kind of supplies
are needed in hospitals across Iraq. US/UN-imposed sanctions have
devastated the Iraqi economy, and blocked necessary medical supplies
from reaching the hospitals. As a result of sanctions, according to UN
agencies, thousands of Iraqi children die each month from otherwise
easily treatable illnesses.
Iraqi hospitals are trying to prepare for massive casualties from
another US-led military assault on the country. "We are still lacking so
many items, and so many companies still refuse to make contracts with
Iraq," said Dr. Louai Atif Kasha'a, director of Saddam Teaching
Hospital.
"In this hospital, and this is a teaching hospital in the capital, we
have a child die every day and sometimes two," said former administrator
Dr. Mahmoud Mehi in December 2001. "Image what it is like outside the
capital and in their rural areas?"
Iraq Peace Team is a project of Voices in the Wilderness, a campaign to
end the sanctions on Iraq. The goal is to place hundreds of
international activists in major Iraqi cities before and during another
attack. Activists will document and report on the humanitarian
consequences a new war would have on ordinary people living in Iraq.
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-- Lilly
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