Disturbing photos of COVID-19 patient unattended in Kirkuk hospital anger family
KIRKUK — Photos of a coronavirus patient lying on the ground unattended in a Kirkuk hospital have angered his family, who demand answers about the treatment of the man, who later died on Tuesday.
The disturbing photos circulating on social media in recent days appear to show Najat Rasheed, 57, lying on the ground meters away from a bed and an overturned chair. No hospital staff are seen in the photos, and it’s not known who is responsible for taking the photos.
Rasheed, who is Kurdish, had served as a medical worker in the city for 12 years. He was hospitalized in two separate hospitals for 13 days, but died on Tuesday. His son, Sirwan Najat, remained in contact with his father via their mobile phones while he was hospitalized. After losing contact with him Thursday night Sirwan visited the hospital and found his father abandoned. The next morning, he was pronounced dead.
“My father could not breathe. At 7 am I called to ask the medical personnel of the hospital whether he was alive or not. The doctor said that he would check on him, but he came at 10am," he told Rudaw on Wednesday. "They did not serve him at all," Najat says.
Ziyad Khalaf, acting head of Kirkuk health directorate, called Rasheed a “hero” and told Rudaw that an administrative investigation has been opened into the matter.
“All of us will die, but my father died in such a way you saw on social media because he was not taken care of,” said Saman Najat, another of the deceased man’s sons, insisting the family is “not going to give up” until they have answers about what happened.
Kirkuk officials say that health workers have seen nearly 1,000 COVID-19 patients in the province. Many have quarantined themselves at home, partly due to poor conditions and lack of space in hospitals.
The novel coronavirus continues to spread throughout Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, as single-day records of new infections continue to be set — the latest coming Wednesday, when 2,200 people tested positive across Iraq, according to the Iraqi Health Ministry.
Iraq has recorded a total 36,702 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic was first detected in the country in late February. Of these, at least 16,814 have recovered and 1,330 died. Failing health department infrastructure is poor and many people do not believe in the existence of the virus. Measures taken by the government are not taken seriously.