The attacks on doctors has been a subject of much concern among locals. They fear a return to the bad old days, after the US-led invasion of 2003, when armed gangs specifically targeted Iraqi professionals, including doctors, engineers, academics and senior army officers.
“These events appear to indicate a resurgence of that phenomenon, when we saw doctors and scientists assassinated,” Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi said in an official statement. “These are criminal acts and they show that the post-Islamic State period will not be an easy one. It may be bloody and it could see the country emptied of the human resources who would be most capable of leading reconstruction in Iraq.”
Criminal gangs are not the only issue facing Iraqi doctors. Another recent and widely publicized case involved Baghdad cardiologist, Sarmad Abdul Amir. After an operation during which the patient, an elderly man, passed away, the patient’s tribe forced Amir to pay them reparations.
The tribe closed his clinic and put a sign on his door that read: “Wanted by the tribe”. The message: The doctor would be hurt or possibly killed unless he paid blood money, to compensate for the man’s death, to his tribe. This was despite the fact that the patient and his family had been warned about the risks of the surgery.
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