Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Health and illness......... Doctor and patient part one!!

Today I am trying to write some thing different. Some thing non political, may be social, or have some thing to do with my ordinary life

I have told you before that I am a medical doctor, I graduated from Iraqi Medical College in 1972, the study in the medical college is six years. I have my post graduate study here in Iraq too.

The study of medicine is in English language for both pre and post graduate. After graduation, we use to have 12 months residency as junior doctor in one of the general hospital, we have to rotate in all branches of medicine to practice clinical application of medicine, now they change the rules and the training period extend to 24 months.

After this, all the males used to go to the military service for a period varied from time to time according to the general situation of our country (We usually have a war every now and then)

After the military service, the doctor must have a second residency period as a senior house officer, usually he choose the branch which he prefer, but this is not always the case. It last for 24 months also. After that the doctor can apply to post graduate study if he want to, or practice medicine as a general practitioner, or as some time called "a family doctor"

Most of the hospitals in Iraq are belonging to the government, and all the doctor are employee for the government, ministry of health

There is no health insurance in Iraq!! The reason for that is; the medical consultations, medical examination, laboratory investigation, surgical operations and the medicine (drugs) are all free of charge. This is really true.

In addition to that, learning in the schools, primary, secondary and the Universities are all free also. The government supplies the student with new books, notebooks, pencils, erasers and even pencil sharpener free of charge every year. Even in the medical college they supply the students with free medical text books.

During the last few years, due to the sanction the books have to recycle, I mean they collected them at the end of the year to give them next year to another students.

To be continued....

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

A hospital in Mosul is reportd to have been bombed. I hope sincerely that you are safe. Any reassurances you can provide will be appreciated.

Mad Canuck said...

Hi Truth Teller,

One question for you about schools...

How varied are the schools in terms of quality in different areas/neighborhoods in Iraq? Here in the United States, there is a huge difference: there are some horrible schools, and some excellent schools, and it all depends where you live as to what schools your children get to attend. Usually here, the bad schools are in poor neighborhoods and the good schools in wealthier areas. Do you find the same thing in Iraq?

Shawn.

Anonymous said...

Hi Truth Teller. I, too, heard about the bomb near a Mosul hospital and am glad that you are alright.

In the US, a university education is getting more and more expensive. I had to take out student loans to help cover the cost. But since I was paying for it myself, I could study whatever I wanted to as long as I had the academic skills/qualifications to do so. In Iraq, can you study what you want free of charge, or does the government place limitations on what you can study and/or how many degrees you can get?

With respect to health insurance, as I'm sure you know, there are times when the insurance company will not pay for a treatment that they think it's unnecessary or "experimental" -- even though the doctor recommends it. What happens in Iraq? Do you have to seek approval before you provide certain treatments or perform operations?

Take care.
Joanie

Truth teller said...

Jeff,
20 years ago, the situation of medicine in Iraq was much better than the neighboring countries. During the last 15 years, all the neighboring countries progressed in every field of science including medicine except Iraq, the cause is the sanction of course!. Now all the countries are better compared to Iraq.


praktike,
Yes, We have private specialized hospitals (very few). And any qulified doctor have the right to open a private clinic, I have one myself since 1984. We did home visits in the past when it was safe, now the doctors refuse the home visits unless they know the patient personally, for fear of being kidnapped or killed.


Shawn,
The schools all over Iraq are under direct supervision of the ministry of Education, the same programs for all, and the same rules. But still we have variation of personal skills from one teacher to another. And there are some schools which chose certain levels of students, as the magnet school, where my two doughters are.
In my opinion, what makes the school in wealthier areas better than those in poor areas, is the level of the students and their parents.


Anonymous,
The bomb was near the republic hospital, not inside. Most of the casualities are policemen, very few are pedestrians and no medical staff.

Anonymous said...

Posted by Mike,

I am sorry that this war has been so awful for everyone in Iraq. There has been a great deal of commentary from people who think that the United States has an interest in Iraq. The neo-cons have been pushing against Saddam since the early 80's (christian calendar) and they may or not be right. Some people think it is about oil or being imperial. Personally, I think that if Iraq belongs to the people of Iraq then the results will be positive. What happens if the people of Iraq determine the futute of the nation? Maybe the cure for AIDS or Malariya (I cannot spell). I will be praying agnostic prayers for you and your family.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the reassurances as to your safety!

I'm not in Mosul, but yellow daffodils are blooming in Sacramento now and I hope spring flowers come to Mosul soon. Such things can't be hurried, of course.

Anonymous said...

we have red fields of flowers all around Mosul.
in these times of the year, (years ago) families used to go for picnics in the good weather that Mosul is known of. and spend the day in the green and red field sorownding the city.

Truth teller said...

Anonymous(s)
At this time of the year, the daffodils are started to bloom in Mosul as well.
They are the wild type, and we call it "Narjiss" It's real name is "Narcissus"
The red field of flowers which bloom is spring when the citizens of Mosul uesd to go to the flat and wide areas around the city for picnic is called "anemone flowers" which is one type of poppy flowers.