IMPACT OF WAR: The heavy bombardment of Baghdad is having a serious impact on the population, particularly children, pregnant women, the elderly and disabled, according to the World Health Organisation, writes Michael Jansen, in Amman
"The bombardment makes it extremely difficult for medical staff to get to those who may need medical assistance, including women in labour," the organisation's spokeswoman, Ms Fadela Chaib, said yesterday in Amman. There are at present "no communicable disease outbreaks in Baghdad and the surrounding areas", she said. "Hospitals in the capital do not report lack of medical supplies." Baghdad has a population of 4.5 million.
However, the spokesman of the UN Office for the Humanitarian Co-ordinator, Mr David Wimhurst, said, "Food and water are in very short supply in local markets, and in some cases non-existent."
Hospital staff are concerned "that there could be a surge in the number of war wounded. The International Committee of the Red Cross is trying to evaluate the state of all city hospitals, but this has been hampered by heavy bombardment."
Power for the water treatment plant for southern Baghdad has been cut, so it is operating at 60 per cent capacity. "Those without access to safe water remain at risk," he said.
On the southern city of Basra, he said: "The water shortage continues to be serious."
While the ICRC has restarted the main facility serving the city, only half its 1.7 million inhabitants have access to drinking-water. Three towns south of Basra, with 400,000 people, have been without water since last Friday and food is in short supply. Mr Wimhurst revealed that the situation along the line which divides the government-controlled centre of the country from the three Kurdish majority northern governorates "is unstable because of ongoing air attacks and reports of sporadic shelling".
Elsewhere, the situation remains calm, with bakeries functioning almost normally and some shops opening for a few hours.
There are, however, serious shortages of flour, rice and fresh fruit and vegetables, and the prices of available goods are inflated. The British government spokesman, Mr Charles Heath, said bad weather and mines in the harbour of Umm Qasr, which is under British control, have delayed the arrival of 200 tonnes of supplies aboard the Royal Fleet auxiliary ship Sir Galahad.