Supporting people in Qayyarah

MSF hospital

Qayyarah General hospital was partially destroyed in 2016. When MSF opened a new hospital in December 2016, it was the only functional health facility in a sub-district with a population of 300,000 people.

Since 2016, the hospital has expanded its medical services and now includes an emergency room, an intensive care unit, two operating theatres, a neonatology ward, ambulatory and outpatient therapeutic feeding centres, two inpatient wards, a laboratory, and a mental health programme offering psychological and psychiatric consultations.

Currently, MSF’s hospital in Qayyarah provides more than 330 medical consultations per month. Between January and June 2019, more than 6,200 emergency consultations and 1,260 surgical interventions have been performed, and more than 1,600 psychological consultations have been provided to patients coming both from the urban area and the camps for displaced people.

A [premature] baby undergoing phototherapy at MSF’s hospital in Qayyarah, Iraq, May 2019. — A premature baby undergoes phototherapy at MSF’s hospital in Qayyarah, Iraq, May 2019.

A child treated in the paediatric IPD in MSF Hospital in Qayyarah — A child being treated in the paediatric unit in MSF's hospital in Qayyarah sits on her bed. Ninewa governorate, Iraq, May 2019.

Inside the paediatrics department of MSF’s hospital in Qayyarah, Iraq, May 2019. — A child plays with a balloon inside the paediatrics department of MSF’s hospital in Qayyarah, Iraq, May 2019.

Burns unit

In April 2018, we also opened a 10-bed burns unit within the hospital that is currently the only specialised medical facility to provide hospital care to burns victims in Ninewa governorate. More than 160 people have been hospitalised and treated in the burns unit since it was opened.

Abdusalam Omar, 2 years old, and his grandmother Aia, 40 years old. They come from Shirqat town in Salahaddin Governorate, 35 km from Qayyarah.
They were admitted to the burns unit at MSF hospital in Qayyarah one week ago. At the time of their arrival, Abdusalam was suffering from burn wounds on 28% of his body (face, arms, abdomen and legs). Aia had burn wounds on her face and on her right hand (5% of her body).
Aia will be discharged in a few days, but Abdusalam needsa longer recovery process since his wounds are more extensive. He could be facing a stay in the hospital of more than one month and he will soon undergo a skin graft, a surgical operation in which healthy skin is transplanted to the burn site. This surgical procedure generally reduces the course of treatment needed and minimizes scarring.
Aia’s discoloured [burnt] lips move slowly. She has difficulty pronouncing her words clearly to those around her, but in spite of the pain she is in, she is keen to talk to people. “It is good to pass the time instead of waiting while Abdulsalam is inside the operating room.”
“We arrived at the hospital at 9:00pm. It took us one hour to reach the hospital. People and relatives recommended this hospital to us so we came in a hurry.”
“Abdulsalam is my grandson, but I raised him as my own child. His mother abandoned him when he was a baby. He follows me around the house, wherever I go, and I am very protective of him,” says Aia.
“Our stove caused the fire. We thought that it was turned off, but it was not properly close, and gas was leaking. In a moment the kitchen ignited and flames and thick black smoke covered the room. The child was outside and the blowing flames caught up with him. My face and hands were caught in the fire, and he was burnt on his legs, hands, the lower part of his abdomen and his face as well. We also suffered asphyxia because of inhaling the heavy gas. We both fell unconscious for a while. When I regained consciousness I was still in the house and immediately was rushed alongside Abdulsalam to the hospital. We arrived there with black smoke on our faces.”
“We were given painkillers and our burns were treated instantly. The next morning he underwent surgery. Today will be his third surgery in eight days.” — Two-year-old Abdusalam Omar and his grandmother Aia, 40, sit in the burns unit of MSF's hospital in Qayyarah. Ninewa governorate, Iraq, May 2019.

Two-year-old Abdusalam Omar, and his grandmother Aia, 40 years old, come from Shirqat town in Salahaddin Governorate, 35 kilometres from Qayyarah. They were admitted to the burns unit at MSF hospital in Qayyarah one week ago. At the time of their arrival, Abdusalam was suffering from burns to 28 per cent of his body (face, arms, abdomen and legs). Aia had burns to five per cent of her body, with wounds on her face and on her right hand. Aia will be discharged in a few days, but Abdusalam will need longer to recover; he will soon undergo a skin graft.

Aia’s discoloured, burnt lips move slowly. She has difficulty pronouncing her words clearly to those around her, but in spite of the pain, she is keen to talk to people. “It is good to pass the time instead of waiting while Abdulsalam is inside the operating room.”

“We arrived at the hospital at 9:00pm. It took us one hour to reach the hospital. People and relatives recommended this hospital to us so we came in a hurry,” says Aia. “Abdulsalam is my grandson, but I raise him as my own child. His mother abandoned him when he was a baby. He follows me around the house, wherever I go, and I am very protective of him.”

“Our stove caused the fire. We thought that it was turned off, but it wasn't, and gas was leaking. In an instant, the gas in the kitchen ignited, and flames and thick black smoke covered the room. The child was outside but the flames caught up with him. My face and hands were caught in the fire, and he was burnt on his legs, hands, the lower part of his abdomen and his face as well.”

“We also suffered from asphyxia because of inhaling the heavy gas. We both fell unconscious for a while. When I regained consciousness I was still in the house and immediately was rushed alongside Abdulsalam to the hospital. We arrived there with black smoke on our faces.”

MSF support in IDP camps around Qayyarah

In 2019, more than 1.6 million people are still displaced in Iraq, according to the International Organisation for Migration (April 2019). More than half (53%) of displaced people live in Ninewa Governorate. Up to 100,000<a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/iraq_cccm"> UNHCR, CCCM Cluster, Iraq</a> displaced people are in the camps close to Qayyarah town (Jeddah and Airstrips camps), where in July 2017 we began an integrated nutrition and mental health project.

Mariam and Aisha, aged five and eight, in the waiting area of the outpatient department at MSF primary healthcare centre in the Airstrip camp for displaced people in Qayyarah, Ninewa Governorate.
Mariam and Aisha are from a village close to Tikrit town. Their lives changed in 2017, when the family moved to Mosul to follow their father. He died during the battle for Mosul. Masteen, the mother of the two girls, decided to flee the town to protect her children Mariam, Aisha and their three brothers.
When they returned to the village they found their house destroyed; they had nowhere to go. Since then, they have lived in the Airstrip camp in Qayyarah.
Masteen, thirty-nine years old, cannot hold her tears back while she tells her story, covering her face with her veil.
“I didn’t want to leave our village; my husband forced me. From that moment, our lives were overturned and now I’m alone with my children in this camp. We’ll never have our lives back. We live in a tent, and we survive thanks to the food distributions and some money that one of my married daughters sends us. I dream of living in a proper house with my family; just one room would be enough, out of this camp.
I often think of taking my own life. I’m tired; I see no hope for me. My family is so unlucky.” — Eight-year-old Aisha and five-year-old Mariam sit in the waiting area of the outpatient department at MSF's primary healthcare centre in the Airstrip camp for displaced people in Qayyarah, Ninewa Governorate. Iraq, May 2019.

Since then, MSF has scaled up the medical activities provided to the displaced population in the camps. We currently run a primary healthcare centre, including sexual and reproductive health services (antenatal and postnatal care, basic obstetric and new born care, family planning), a 24-hour emergency care service, outpatient consultations for children and adults, consultations for chronic diseases, a vaccination programme, a nutritional unit, mental health services and health promotion activities and campaigns in the camps.

Between January and June 2019, our primary health centre has provided medical assistance to more than 130 people daily. More than 13,800 medical consultations and 4,600 emergency consultations were performed; we have assisted more than 250 deliveries; and more than 500 individual counselling sessions were offered to people living in the camp.