US embassy cable - 03KUWAIT1849

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 001849 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE ALSO PASS USAID/W 
STATE PLEASE REPEAT TO IO COLLECTIVE 
STATE FOR PRM/ANE, EUR/SE, NEA/NGA, IO AND SA/PAB 
NSC FOR EABRAMS, SMCCORMICK, STAHIR-KHELI, JDWORKEN 
USAID FOR USAID/A, DCHA/AA, DCHA/RMT, DCHA/FFP 
USAID FOR DCHA/OTI, DCHA/DG, ANE/AA 
USAID FOR DCHA/OFDA:WGARVELINK, BMCCONNELL, KFARNSWORTH 
USAID FOR ANE/AA:WCHAMBERLIN 
ROME FOR FODAG 
GENEVA FOR RMA AND NKYLOH 
DOHA FOR MSHIRLEY 
ANKARA FOR AMB WRPEARSON, ECON AJSIROTIC AND DART 
AMMAN FOR USAID AND DART 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID, PREF, IZ, WFP 
SUBJECT:  TFIZ01:  DART AN NASIRIYAH TRIP REPORT 1 - 2 MAY 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  Between 1 and 2 May, the DART traveled to An Nasiriyah. 
Accompanied by GOAL and IMC, the DART visited two hospitals 
and local water and sewage treatment facilities.  The DART 
attended the CMOC briefing on 2 May, during which, local 
leaders presented the town's most critical needs: food, 
propane, hospital security, and medicines.  End Summary. 
 
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HEALTH 
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2.  The DART toured An Nasiriyah's Maternal and Pediatric 
Hospital on 1 May.  All patients had been discharged five to 
six hours before the hospital was hit by a bomb.  As a 
result of the damage, 40 of the hospital's 300 beds are not 
available, but the hospital is operational.  The current 
patient breakdown is 40 percent OB/GYN and 60 percent 
pediatric.  Most of the pediatric patients are suffering 
from gastro-intestinal problems (water-borne diseases) and 
upper respiratory infections.  Prior to the war, the 
hospital reportedly performed 3,000 surgical procedures per 
month.  Now between 200 and 400 surgeries are performed per 
month.  There are now 400 vaginal deliveries, 300 caesarian 
sections, and 200 other gynecological surgeries per month. 
Fewer than one third of the hospital's incubators are 
functional. 
 
3.  Most of the hospital's staff has returned to work, 
including eight OB/GYN physicians, eleven pediatricians, 
five anesthesia personnel, eight nurse midwives, and 70 
nurses.  The hospital only has the capacity to provide 
intermittent salaries to some of the staff.  Potable water 
is available by tanker and non-potable water though the 
municipal water system.  There are no laboratory culture 
capabilities, and the pharmaceutical supplies are being 
rapidly depleted.  The hospital's main problems are poor 
night-time security, only one anesthesia machine, a lack of 
re-training for staff, and a lack of oxygen.  Oxygen 
(medical-grade by local standards) is available from a local 
contractor at seven times the normal price. The 
International Medical Corps (IMC) expects to have a master 
list of all supplies needed in all three of An Nasiriyah's 
hospitals by 5 May. 
 
4.  The DART also visited the Republic Hospital, which 
mainly treated emergency, dialysis, and urology cases.  The 
100-bed hospital has been almost completely destroyed by a 
combination of bomb damage and looting.  Almost all of the 
windows in the hospital were broken.  However, according to 
the hospital's director, the facility was in very poor 
condition even before the war.  There were four patients in 
the hospital's two open wards during the DART's visit. 
According to the hospital director, eight operations were 
performed in the last week.  The hospital has only two 
respirators and no oxygen.  Air has been used as a 
substitute in the respirators for the past two weeks.  The 
hospital's laboratory closes at noon each day due to the 
lack of staff.  All three of the hemodialysis units were 
looted, forcing the hospital to resort to peritoneal 
dialysis.  However, the hospital has only a very small 
supply of the catheters necessary for the peritoneal 
dialysis.  The three looted hemodialysis units were the only 
three in the entire governorate of 1.5 million people.  The 
hospital's infectious disease unit is inoperable as the door 
for the isolation room was looted. 
 
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WATER AND SEWAGE TREAMENT 
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5.  According to GOAL, An Nasiriyah's water and sewage 
treatment plant would require only small interventions to 
become operable.  The staff is available and ready to work. 
The DART visited the plant's administrative offices, where 
all the doors, windows, and furniture were looted.  The DART 
also visited the sewage treatment facility, which is 
operating at between 30 and 70 percent of capacity because 
of a lack of maintenance and spare parts.  Since before the 
war, the facility has been relying on temporary pumps as 
there are no parts to repair the permanent pumps.  Due to 
the use of the temporary pumps, the system is being bypassed 
and wastewater is being released untreated. 
 
6.  The DART also visited the water treatment plant, where 
only seven out of the fourteen pumps are operating.  As a 
result, the plant has no standby capacity.  The plant has 
less than one week's supply of chlorine left, according to 
GOAL. 
 
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FUEL 
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7.  On 1 May, GOAL reported that the supply of propane gas 
is virtually non-existent in An Nasiriyah.  On 23 April, 
looters broke into the propane factory, manually opened the 
valves, and filled bottles with propane, leaving a dangerous 
residue of sulphur and vapor in the tanks.  On 29 April, two 
people were killed and two more seriously burned, when 
looters attempted to break into the pipeline to fill bottles 
manually. 
 
8.  GOAL is attempting to confirm whether the propane plant 
in Basrah is operational and what capacity it has.  If the 
plant is operating, GOAL is considering organizing trucks 
and bottles to go to Basrah in order to supply An Nasiriyah. 
Prior to the war, An Nasiriyah's propane consumption level 
was 11,000 bottles per day.  GOAL believes that any propane 
supplies to An Nasiriyah must consist of at least 5,000 
bottles per day, to avoid civil unrest. 
 
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CIVIL MILITARY OPERATIONS CENTER MEETING 
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9.  The DART attended the daily Civil Military Operations 
Center (CMOC) briefing on 2 May.  Several City Council 
leaders told the DART that propane was needed desperately in 
An Nasiriyah.  Food was also named as a priority need; food 
items such as milk and cheese are unavailable.  However, 
there are sufficient supplies of dry foods available. 
Employees have gone three months without pay.  According to 
the city's hospital director, security is the hospital's 
priority need.  Medicines are also needed, and what drugs 
are available are of a very low quality.  Contact with other 
centers is also difficult because of the lack of operational 
communications equipment. 
 
JONES