Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Houston | Capt. Paul Rolston, a Belmont, Mass., native, serving with the 1st Battalion, 21st...... read more read more
By Sgt. Whitney Houston
Multi-National Bahgdad
BAGHDAD — One of Iraq's most unfortunate dilemmas is a weak medical infrastructure. In an effort to combat these struggles, the Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, conducted a Cooperative Medical Engagement, July 5, in hopes of laying the foundation for the restoration of Iraqi trust in their Ministry of Health.
The military is working with the Iraqi government to conduct these CMEs as part of a reconciliation effort to build trust between the Iraqi people and their medical infrastructure.
"This is a partnership between American and Iraqi physicians and principally most of the care is given by the Iraqi physicians with us here for support," said Capt. Paul Rolston, a Belmont, Mass., native, serving with the 1st Bn., 21st Inf. Regt. "We are here to provide security to facilitate patient flow, and to act as consultants if they have any questions."
The Iraqi medical infrastructure, still in its infancy in terms of its effectiveness, is much like a newborn baby that has been "living" on a diet of milk and is only now beginning to develop an ability to process more complex foods, like meat. The U.S. military is attempting to set a stage where Iraqi physicians can become the source of that "nutrition."
"The end goal is to have the patients that come in here see their local doctor treating them, so that they will have faith in their physicians, and will eventually permanently use them so they are less reliant on us," said Maj. Jason Davis, a Killeen, Texas, native, and battalion surgeon with 1st Bn., 21st Inf. Regt.
The local physicians are limited in the health care they can provide. However, there is hope that as the medical infrastructure steadily grows and is able to handle more chronic ailments; the peoples' confidence will grow simultaneously.
"During this CME we hope to take care of mild illnesses within the community like gastrointestinal problems, urinary track infections, typhoid, allergies, etc.," said Davis. "Unfortunately there are a lot of chronic illnesses that are severe that we can't help with, such as diabetes, vascular disease, deformities, cystic fibrosis, etc., all of which the health care system in Iraq is not equipped to handle. But at least it's an Iraqi doctor telling them there's nothing we can do as opposed to us, which is an important step in the right direction," he said.
As the Iraqi physicians administer aid to their own people, they become the primary source of health care and eventually a sort of parent-child bond is created between Iraqi civilians and Iraqi doctors. Even if the aid administered is minute, it is a step in the right direction, said Davis.
Before the implementation of these CMEs, the people weren't receiving a much medical care from anybody, so they would rely on U.S. troops to give them aid. There has been a concerted effort by Americans to not give Iraqis routine medical aid and let the Iraqi government handle such issues as to avoid generating any reliance on us, explained Davis.
"If we provide any healthcare we are undermining what we are trying to accomplish," said Davis. "The purpose of the CME is for Iraqis to treat Iraqis. We're trying to get Iraqi health care on its feet. Our interaction should only be as facilitators, which would entail us setting up security so people can be seen, arrange for doctors to be here with medicines that they can use to treat the patients, and provide humanitarian aid."
More and more of these CME missions will continue to be conducted throughout Baghdad and the Ministry of Health will become stronger and more able to deal with chronic illnesses on a bigger scale. However, as the old saying goes, the milk has to come before the meat.
"I won't be here to see this grow, and whether these small things are the building blocks for the big things to come or not, I have faith that these CME missions are the right tool to use to make it happen," said Davis. "If it's not the exact right answer, it's my hope that it will develop into the right answer over time, and I believe it is laying the foundation for better health care for the Iraqi people in the future."
In time, Iraq's new medical capabilities will grow out of infancy and into a viable force for good. Until then, hope drives Iraqi physicians to continue to administer aid to the Iraqi people with less and less help from the U.S. military, until the Iraqi healthcare foundation is completely sound and able to survive on "meat" alone.
| Date Taken: | 07.05.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 07.12.2008 13:33 |
| Story ID: | 21416 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 228 |
| Downloads: | 75 |
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