5-18-06, 9:34 am

MISSAN, 18 May 2006 (IRIN) - A health crisis may be just around the corner in the southern Missan governorate, some 290km southeast of the capital, Baghdad, unless the government adopts urgent procedures to improve the health services available to residents, a local health official warned.

“Cases of tuberculosis, kalazar [a skin disease caused by sand flies] and chicken pox are increasing daily due to the shortage of doctors and the absence of the appropriate health care and government funds,” said Dr Zamil Mohamed, director of Missan’s municipal health directorate. “These numbers will increase further if the government doesn’t improve services and build new hospitals, and if the shortage of modern laboratory equipment isn’t addressed.”

Mohamed went on to note that 1,784 cases of different acute respiratory diseases had been registered over the past three years due to bad potable water and poor sewage systems.

Many Missan residents complain bitterly that medical treatments – even for relatively common illnesses – are almost impossible to obtain locally. “We have to wait two weeks to get the medicine we need from the hospital because we can't afford treatment in Baghdad,” said 45 year-old housewife Hania Amer, whose son is infected with chicken pox.

According to Dr Saadon Fathi, who works at the city’s general hospital, most chicken pox cases were registered in schools due to bad ventilation in classrooms. He added that some 221 cases of the Kalazar skin disease had been registered among children in 2005.

Fathi went on to blame the situation – particularly the lack of medical supplies – on government mismanagement. “We’re not seeing a real commitment from the government to deal with these problems,” he said. “Especially on sewage, which is currently being drained into a river on which people rely for their cooking