Baghdad: A Doctor’s Story Script 39min ver. This World titles 00.11 COM Hospital GVs Al Yarmouk hospital is in the most dangerous part of Baghdad. Every day there are bombings and shootings in the area. This programme was filmed entirely by an Iraqi doctor. To protect his identity for safety reasons, his words are spoken by an actor. 00.34 GRAPHIC Baghdad: A Doctor’s Story 00.46 01.13 01.30 COM Ambulance/ER GVs Al Yarmouk used to be a normal, local hospital. Now, three years after Saddam was driven from power, the hospital treats mostly bomb victims. Woman in ambulance Why is this happening to us? Oh dear God, why is this happening in Iraq? Dr Qusay VOICE There have been gunshots in Al-Duraa Two were injured Gunshots in Al-Shurta Al-Khamsa Two injured, one martyred I’ve worked as a doctor for five years, all through the invasion. It’s never been so bad and it’s getting worse every day. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. 01.49 COM Hospital GVS Most patients that come to Al Yarmouk are victims of sectarian violence. The bombs are usually planted by Sunni insurgents to kill and maim Shiite civilians. Shiite death squads retaliate by kidnapping and shooting Sunni civilians. Filming has never been allowed before inside the hospital and for a long time I was refused. They finally gave me special permission because I’m a doctor. Most of the staff were afraid to be filmed. But one of them, Dr Ali Abdul Wahed, was prepared to stick his neck out. 02.27 Actuality Dr Ali Every time I enter the ER I say, ‘In the name of God’ 02.33 SUPER Al Yarmouk Emergency Room 02.40 02.47 02.53 COM Dr Ali Dr Ali is a surgeon. He’s worked in Al Yarmouk for 14 years. His wounds were dirty, so I stitched him up temporarily Before the invasion his most common operation was removing peoples’ appendixes. Now most of his work is removing bits of bombs from peoples’ bodies. 03.11 Dr Ali interview VOICED In Al Yarmouk hospital, not a single day goes by without receiving either bullet injuries or bomb injuries. And we’ve been working like this for a while. In fact, since last year, these incidents have been increasing. It’s depressing, but this is just how it is in Al Yarmouk. Not a single day passes without witnessing an explosion, killing. That’s why we say here, whoever’s on duty, if they don’t have to deal an explosion or shooting, we say that they’re not really living the real Al Yarmouk. 03.53 COM Like me, Dr Ali took up medicine expecting to treat people who are ill and those who’ve had accidents - like in hospitals everywhere. But now his patients are nearly all innocent victims of deliberate acts violence. And their desperate stories are a drain on the morale of everyone in the hospital. 04.17 04.35 04.40 Woman She went out to get some bread When she got to the end of the street… ..she says she was hit by a huge flame Apparently it was a car bomb. Girl I’m good, thank you. Omer This happened yesterday? Girl Yes, at sunset, at prayer time I just went out to get some bread Suddenly I found myself in the middle of some fire I ran away, but my side was hurting I realised I’d been wounded And there was a hole this big Many people around me were killed - I don’t know how many 05.11 COM These homemade bombs are aimed at anyone who’s in the street. Mmd Hussain is just 7 years old. He was out playing with his friends. He was the lucky one. 05.25 Woman with Hussein We were mortared, in Abu Disheer Yesterday, around 11.30 Omer Is he the only one who was injured? Woman No, my was daughter too And some of the neighbours were martyred They’re being buried today... children 05.48 Man He’s my nephew He was injured in the explosion It’s only just happened, about an hour ago It was a car bomb Many people were killed, women and children There were no police there and no Americans Only children playing And the bomb was exploded in the middle of them 06.22 Omer What’s your name? Boy Ali Abdul Jabbar Omer How did you get injured? Boy By the explosion made by those repulsive, inferior, cowardly terrorists 06.41 COM ER/Blood Bank Four years ago this was a quiet, efficient ER with occasional dramatic moments. Now it is in chaos almost all the time. It looks like the field hospital of a battlefield. In a way, that’s what it is. Under normal circumstances resources are very limited, but anything needed to treat bomb and bullet injuries runs out very quickly. One explosion can use up a week’s worth of vital saline solution, leaving nothing for any other incidents. And there’s a critical shortage of blood for transfusions. Inas Baquer is charge of the blood bank, where she’s worked for 12 years. The current situation has led her to adopt some desperate measures. 07.36 Inas In an emergency, the doctor takes blood for the patient But they give us the patient’s ID card Afterwards the patient has to compensate us with blood… ..in order to get back his ID We give him a form to complete It’s signed by us and he has to go and donate blood… ..and bring us back a receipt This is the system we use now What else are we supposed to do? 08.02 Actuality with man at window Man I don’t think I can come again BB Man You don’t have to come yourself BB Man But we need some blood before we do the operation Man From her? BB Man You, her, anyone 08.29 TV actuality A car bomb and three mortars have exploded in Baghdad There are more than thirty dead and scores of injured The car bomb exploded in Al-Karada market 08.45 COM ambulance GVs Life may be difficult for those working inside the hospital, but it’s much more dangerous for those working outside. Ambulances are sometimes shot at and ambulance workers have been killed, mistakenly by Americans and deliberately by extremists. 09.05 COM inside ambulance centre It was a surprise and a relief that they were happy to be filmed. In the hospital people were always trying to stop me filming and my camera was sometimes confiscated. But these men whose work was the most dangerous welcomed me. A’amer Salih goes out every day to the sites of recent bombings, where tensions are high and people are looking for revenge. 09.39 Driver VOICED We’re all brothers here. We all work together, Sunnis and Shiites together. There’s me and my two colleagues in the ambulance. My two colleagues are Shiites, me, I’m the driver, I’m a Sunni. My colleagues are from Karbala and from Najaf, but we’re all brothers, and we’re going to stay brothers until we die. We eat together, we talk together, we play jokes on each other. That’s how it is with us. 10.07 Actuality Palm reading Read mine! I’m not going to read your fortune for free… ..even if your life depends on it Understand? Because this isn’t the first time! Aamer But I’m your brother! Don’t ‘brother’ me Give me 1000 dinars! Here’s 1000 for Aamer Ah, here’s a noble man You are a true Najaf man You really are persistent You married the woman you loved, isn’t that right? But do know what’s going on now? The mother of your wife has put a spell on you Believe me, I swear to God, she’s destroyed you His mother-in-law has put a spell on him She’s bewitched him to bring many presents So he’s always carrying bags to them - cloth and jewellery Everything he earns goes on his wife’s family Shame on you! Listen, before he got married he put a spell on them to get her! Aah, I think you’re right I wrote it for him myself! So you’ve got your just rewards then Aamer No kidding, it’s true! Whenever he reads my palm he’s always right! 11.24 Ambulance call out 11.43 Actuality Paramedic re bomb It was car bomb A car bomb went off near the mosque at Al Washash According to the civil defence men four people have been martyred But from what we’ve heard from the people in the area… it’s much more than that Lots of kids were playing there And they think most of them have been killed It’s a really over-crowded area Everyone close to the explosion was martyred 12.19 COM ambulance arriving The bomb had gone off in a Shiite neighbourhood, targetting Shiite civilians. Two of the ambulance crew are Sunni. Sticking their necks out like this every day, I couldn’t help but wonder at their bravery. 12.35 12.42 Get out of the way! Get out of the way! 12.48 13.05 COM This area is controlled by the Shiite militia, the Al Mehdi army. The locals think the government is unable to protect them and they don’t trust the police. Straight away I was told to stay in the ambulance. 13.16 Please, open it carefully They even search ambulances for booby traps. Believe it or not, ambulances have been stolen for this purpose. I was told not to move and if I carried on filming my life was in danger. 13.33 COM Baghdad evening GVs Every week hundreds of Iraqis are being killed by other Iraqis, but most of us, ordinary people,. Sunnis and Shiites, don’t hate each other at all. Leaders of extremist groups are using atrocities and sectarian loyalties to divide us. 14.02 COM Non-ER hospital GVs Both Shiite and Sunni have always worked together here. But some doctors have been kidnapped and killed and there was a strike by hospital staff who felt, inside the hospital, their lives were in danger. Now we have armed guards, and yet people are still very frightened of being identified as a government worker and every day I was being threatened because of the filming. But Dr Ali wanted to show people what was going on. 14.31 14.36 Dr Ali I’m afraid they’re going to assassinate us after your film! He’s making a film about a doctor’s life And the man who’s filming, he’s a doctor too 14.55 15.13 15.34 COM Ali op prep Dr Ali performs surgery every day. He lives in a small room in the hospital. His wife, who is also a doctor, lives with their two children and his parents in a two-room apartment outside Baghdad. Is the cauteriser ready? Yes Don’t erase our marks Keep them for as long as possible Why is it not coagulating? 15.45 16.04 16.15 Dr Ali About 10% of our work is ‘cold’ cases About 90% of the cases we work on are war injuries You take a little bit from here, and a lot from here and then that should be OK We don’t have enough operating theatres… ..for the number of cases we get We’ve just got four It’s never enough… ..especially when we get in the victims of an explosion Give me the scissors 16.36 ER GVs, incl boy and tubes 16.55 Operation 2, singing 17.17 COM Boy/needles Hassan is six years old. He was playing in the street when a bomb went off and he was hit by shrapnel. He lost his father and brother in the explosion. The ER doctors had to make holes in his side to drain off blood from his lungs. There is no anaesthetic available and there is only one, adult size of chest tube. He has a syringe inserted to test for internal injuries. This is a crude and inefficient method, but we don’t have enough X-ray film and there’s no ultrasound. 18.06 COM Baghdad GVs Thankfully Hassan made a full recovery. I don’t know anyone in Baghdad who hasn’t lost someone close to them in the recent wave of violence. So far this year I personally have lost an uncle and a cousin and 17 good friends. Last week, a fake checkpoint was set up on my road and anyone who happened to pass by from my neighbourhood was taken away and shot. It was just luck that I didn’t leave the house that day. 18.42 Doctors have been targetted in the fighting. One reason is that we’ll treat anyone, Sunni, Shiite, whoever. 18.52 Actuality, Dr Ali Come on, let’s get on with the rounds Come and be in the film No, I don’t want to be filmed Come on, what’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with them? Is it really that scary? 19.11 COM Patients For Dr Ali’s patients, the trauma is made worse by not understanding why the violence is happening. Most bomb victims just cannot accept that the bomb was set off by another Iraqi. 19.24 Omer How are you feeling? Boy OK 19.29 COM Sarmed Zuhair works in a baker’s shop. He was injured by a homemade bomb, which was detonated outside the shop, killing a policeman. 19.41 Sarmed God is great God is great No Muslim would do such a thing to any other Muslim We’re losing all these good young men, and children too There was a two year old boy His face was completely blown off We don’t know what’s going on Why are people doing this? Do they do it for money? Or to destroy the country? Or to destroy the Iraqi people? We don’t know 20.30 COM The hospital has to continually report ER admissions to the ministry of health. Typically, nobody does anything with those figures, but every day Dr Qusay Nema’a has to go through the motions. 20.44 Qusay on phone There have been gunshots in Al Duraa Two were injured Gunshots in Al Shurta Al Khansa Two injured, one martyred In Al Karada, a bomb went off under a car Five were injured We’ve had two lots of people brought in from Al Baya All with bullet injuries Eight in total 21.17 ER GVs 21.39 COM Operation 3 Most of the doctors I worked with have now left the country. I admire Dr Ali for staying. I’ve given the best part of my adult life to medicine, but I don’t know where my future lies. One of my emergency patients was a pregnant woman and it was left to me to choose between saving her life or that of her unborn baby. I killed the baby. That was just one incident that made me question whether I could continue with this job. 22.14 Qusay on phone 2/ interview 20, 28, 30, 38… That’s the total, from 9am until now Omer Is this the average for one day? Qusay Well, it depends Some days we have big explosions and the number could go over fifty Sometimes it’s less It just depends on the circumstances 22.54 23.00 23.20 23.32 23.38 Give me more light! COM I liked filming in the operating theatre because it was Dr Ali’s space and nobody was going to try to take the camera from me. It was also a place for him away from the chaos of the ER and somewhere he did not constantly have to fear for his safety. You’re the one who walked away, so I’m not be crawling back to you Your love is like an aubergine – So ordinary. Adieu! I’m not with you my lover, I’m not with you We can talk freely now… the dangerous bit’s over 23.51 Dr Ali interview VOICE There’s no security, but what can we do? Someone will come up to me and say, ‘You’re a doctor, you should be filled with humanity.’ Where’s the logic in that? Give me what I deserve, protect me, then ask me to give you humanity. But don’t starve me. And if you don’t care if I get beaten or humiliated, then how can you come asking me for humanity? There’s no logic in that. You hurt me and you leave me to be humiliated and degraded, then you come and ask me for humanity! How can I give you humanity if you don’t show mercy on me? What I’m saying is Al Yarmouk is well known for these incidents. In fact, more than once, gunshots have been fired inside - we have evidence of that. Gun shots, inside the ER! Can you believe it? It’s not unusual that there’s shooting, then what on earth are we supposed to do? They have guns in their hands while we have stethoscopes. And I think the gun defeats the stethoscope. 24.59 COM Buying canned drinks The temperature this summer reached 50 degrees centigrade. Most days it was 45 degrees, even at night. Usually, at home, we can hide from the heat indoors, but with constant power shortages we can’t use fans or air conditioners, so it’s even worse. Then if you go outside you risk the bombs. At least the hospital has its own electrical supply and usually we can keep the fans going. 25.35 Ali and woman shy of being filmed Slow down so he can film you Please, no, I don’t want to be filmed Oh come on! 25.52 COM Trolley woman When the Americans invaded, the health workers were the only public service workers to continue working uninterrupted. Some doctors even armed themselves and patrolled the hospitals to ensure that everyone could keep on working. And we would care for anyone who was brought in. But the violence now is on another level. It’s worse than during the war. 26.26 Dr Ali interview/ER GVs VOICED It just seems that the Iraqi people are predestined to be persecuted, to be powerless, to have their resources stolen, to have their smiles taken. I don’t know when these poor people are going to see just a glimmer of hope and well-being. With all that’s happening we’re just hoping the future will be better, but things aren’t improving. That’s the truth of it. 26.55 ER leg man 27.14 Operation ‘football’ 1 Ghana played very well yesterday The guy who scored their second goal… ..got out an Israeli flag and was waving it about Ali Maybe Israel had done him some favour or other Like what? Help them get to the finals? 27.35 ER Phone call Hello, how are you? You want Abed? He’s in the hospital He’s been shot They’re treating him now 27.51 Operation football 2 Ghana played very well - they’re going to win the world cup Ali Who? They’re playing like legends I was surprised, and I don’t think even they can believe it Even America was as good as Italy when they played 28.16 COM ER Some of us doctors can afford to leave Iraq, but the lower paid have no choice. Casual labourers like the porters often sleep in the hospital, because they can barely afford the bus fare home. 28.34 ?? Porter/ER VOICE Here in Al Yarmouk we have to deal with explosions, killings… we even have to go out to rivers to collect dead people. We have to sleep with the patients – we don’t even have a place to sleep here. And these are our uniforms. They get covered in blood. We wash them every other day. They’re usually soaked with blood. The other day they took us out to get 18 dead bodies out of a drainage river. No one else would go but we had to. They were all horribly bloated and the smell was awful. They’d been there for about three months. 29.14 Green eyes Show the camera, let them see Here we have a man with green eyes He’s the most beautiful man we have here It will be shown in Britain Green eyes: We won’t see it then 29.35 Dr Ali washing hands Now we are washing 29.45 Ambulance driving GV 29.52 Driver VOICE There are explosions every day. There’s killings in the streets every day. It’s just on-going now, and it will never, ever end. 30.04 COM There was a car bomb outside a mosque in a Shiite area. Before the war Shiites were persecuted by Saddam. They hated Saddam. Now they are being bombed by Al Quaida terrorists who have joined forces with pro-Saddam insurgents. 30.44 31.49 31.58 32.30ish 33.08 33.30 33.42 33.25 35.00 Ambulance actuality You’re not allowed in here But he’s my uncle…. Go and check on the kids Man All the people in the market were killed, all killed All the poor people dead Waheed is dead, and Karrar Boy Did you get Karrar’s body out? 31.36 And Waheed? Man Yes, yes They were taken away The car bomb was right in front of their door Oh my God. All those people killed I’m fine, don’t worry They targeted the market We were carrying away the children and somehow I got injured I think because of flying glass I’d never believe that an Iraqi person could do this I’d just never believe that Oh God, I don’t know what we’ve done You’re fine, you’re fine Hindah, don’t worry, you’re fine My son! My son! Where was your son? In the building? Yes Look at me… all the kids who were inside are fine It was just the ones playing outside So don’t worry We’re not going to stay here anymore What kind of life is this? What’s happened to Iraq? We don’t want it anymore Let them take what they want from it Damn Iraq Woman Where is Saddam? Where is Saddam Hussain? Bring back Saddam! God bless him It wasn’t like this under him Let him starve us and kill us… ..we just don’t want it to be like this Man We’ve had enough! They make us feel like women! Sitting at home and afraid The bastards Politicians fighting for their positions All of them are thieves and pickpockets Will you broadcast this, tell me I want you to broadcast this and let everybody see it If they are men, they’re not real men Look at me, I’m from Al Washash I was injured, and my was son too All my neighbours were killed Those government people, they’re not real men Let them sit with their women From the Prime Minister Al Maliki to the smallest Those pimps! Woman They have made brother kill brother! What is it between the Sunnis and the Shiites? We are all brothers! We are all Iraqis Why is this happening? Brothers killing brother! Oh God help us Oh god help us, oh God help us Man She has a child and she doesn’t know if the child’s dead or alive Whenever we try to close the road the Americans open it! The Al Mehdi army comes to secure the area… ..but then they come and attack them! They’ve come from the north - they’re neither Sunni nor Shiite They’re coming down from the north I swear on the Koran, we’re not going to stay here anymore There’s no way we’ll stay here Let them enjoy themselves here Let that Kurd the president be happy Let the Americans enjoy it here Let them all have their fill of it Even in Palestine it’s never been like this Waheed is dead. Everybody was killed Woman No, no! Every child, every stallholder in the street - all of them gone I was in the flat and even there a piece of flesh came flying in Thank God we were inside Thank God I closed up early… ..otherwise I’d have been out in the street too Woman Why is this happening to us? Why? How can Iraq be like this? Oh my dear God, why? 35.50 COM ambulance blood shots/ER A Shiite woman screaming for the return of Saddam is a sign of how bad things have become in the new Iraq. It’s incredible, but now I hear many ordinary Shiites calling for the return of Saddam. They would rather live with the known fear of Saddam than the greater fear of a bomb going off anywhere while they walk down the street. Ordinary people feel powerless and don’t know what to think. There are no straightforward answers anymore. One thing I do believe is that Iraq needs help. Our hospitals and doctors need help from the international medical community, and our country needs help. Thousands of Iraqis are being killed every month. You may get bored of hearing about the bombings, but the situation is far from all our own making and any solution is now out of our grasp. And as for me? Well, maybe I’ll stay in the country. I don’t know. But I’m not going to work as a doctor anymore. Good luck to Dr Ali and the others – they’re better men than me. 37.05 Dr Ali VOICED We’ve lost everything. Our children have lost their happiness. We’ve lost our hopes and our safety. We’ve lost our comfort. You won’t be able to find one Iraqi who feels happy/comfortable – and that’s out of 20 million. You won’t find a smile on the faces of more than 10 or 20 of us, so I think those who can still laugh are maybe 20 out of 20 million and I think they’re probably psychopaths. 37.37 Actuality with Faris Why did you leave? I will never leave you! 37.56 COM Ext hospital GVs I’d been given permission to film by the head of security at the hospital. But then he was shot dead - by unknown gunmen. Now, without his support, security stopped me taking my camera inside. And then the Ministry of Health made it clear that my filming was finished. 38.21 Credits CAMERA – SOUND - DUBBING MIXER - Nicholas Paul ORIGINAL MUSIC - Steve Hamilton COLOURIST - ONLINE EDITOR - Michael Peatfield PRODUCTION TEAM - PRODUCTION CO- ORDINATOR - Lindsay Poulton PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE - Jacqui Timberlake UNIT MANAGER - FILM RESEARCH - RESEARCH - PICTURE EDITOR– Scott McEwing EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Bob Long SERIES PRODUCER - Louise Norman PRODUCER - Ben Summers (company logo) (separate card) GuardianFilms EDITOR - KAREN O’CONNOR BBC Cop., etc.