The health system has gone through a profound crisis because of the emigration of medical personnel. Now comes a small sign of hope, although difficulties remain: out of the 100,000 medical and paramedical workers needed, there are only 16,000.

Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Over the past two months, about 650 of the more than 8,000 Iraqi doctors who have fled from the country since 2003, with the outbreak of the second Gulf war, have gone back to work. The confirmation comes from sources inside the health ministry, according to which the improvement in general security levels has prompted some of the doctors to return to Iraq.

Adel Mushin, inspector general for the ministry, emphasizes that the doctors who have returned have resumed their previous work in all of the hospitals spread throughout the country. The national health system is in crisis because of a lack of personnel; in recent weeks, the government launched an appeal to the more than 8,000 doctors who fled abroad, asking them to come back to the country and make a concrete contribution to the slow process of the normalization of Iraq. Mushin expects that "more doctors will respond to our call", and return to the country.

The killings and kidnappings of doctors and paramedics over the past five years gave rise to a massive emigration from the country; whether a result of the war or of the following inter-confessional violence, the exodus caused a grave crisis in the Iraqi health system, bordering on paralysis. Confirmation comes from the official data: from 2003 until today, 618 workers in the health system, between medical and paramedical personnel - including 132 doctors - have been killed. The ministry complains that there are only 16,000 workers, while there is a need for at least 100,000 professionals.

Since 2007, the security situation in Iraq seems to have improved steadily, although numerous attacks and episodes of violence continue to take place in various areas of the country. At the basis of the growing climate of trust are the cease-fire signed by the Shiite militias, the reconstruction work backed by the American troops, and the decision of part of the Sunni branch to support the United States in the fight against al Qaeda.

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