Opinion | 'To get the authentic number, you should multiply it by three or four' : Sulaimani is in dire straits

Last Sunday I visited a hospital designated for treating COVID-19 patients. What you read here are the words of a physician, from a medical point of view. Differences of voice, color, sympathy, ideology and the geographical location of humans are of no importance to me. What I wish to convey from the experience is a very human and very urgent plea for help.

I witnessed with my own eyes a man struggling to take a single breath confidently, and could not. Plagued by sweating and fits of unstoppable coughing, the only request he could mutter was for oxygen. Eventually, the nurses rushed to him and started administering first aid.

On the doorsteps of the hospital, there were massive queues of people desperately waiting their turn for a COVID-19 test. With the situation so out of control, not everyone was lucky enough to get tested.

On that day, 206 cases of COVID-19 had been announced in Sulaimani province. Dr. Sabah Hawrami, head of the Sulaimani Health Department, tells me that the actual number is much higher.

"Testing is only designed to discover our enemy — but coronavirus is in our homes, we no longer need to search for it," said Hawrami. "Just imagine, on a day 200 cases are officially announced in Sulaimani. To get the authentic number, you should multiply it by three or four."

One reason is that aside from blood samples and swabs, COVID-19 is also detected by CT scan, but the health ministry does not record or announce cases detected by CT Scan. "This is in addition to a large number of people sent home by us and we clearly know that they have COVID-19 as well," Hawrami added.

Sulaimani has become part of my spirit and blood. I began my medical studies there, lived there for two years, and traveled often, making relationships that have become an important part of my life. And now it is time to share with you the calamity Sulaimani is going through which I witnessed during my latest visit last Sunday.

Dr. Hadi Osman, who is in charge of the province's COVID-19 Response Cell, is an energetic and humble man who has now dedicated his legacy as a public servant to combatting the coronavirus. He, too, warns me that "the figures we publish concerning coronavirus infections is far less than half of the authentic number."

It was around 11pm when we were at Shar Hospital. Dr. Osman was very actively carrying out his duties. He never once let on that he had been working for 15 hours on that day. While speaking with me, he was busy responding to a myriad of questions he was receiving on Viber and Messenger.

"We discover double the number of the announced infections through CT scan," Osman told me. "Yet, we send home another number of people without any tests telling them to quarantine themselves at their homes."

"Seventy percent of the tests we carry out in Sulaimani turn out to be positive," Dr. Zana Hamid, a physician who has gained expertise in dealing with COVID-19 in the UK, told me. "This indicates the fact that there is a large number of infections in Sulaimani."

Sulaimani is in a situation in which the city's health department is no longer paying attention to just numbers. I spoke with a friend of mine who was my classmate some 15 years ago at the Sulaimani Medical College. I asked him; of the nine people confirmed to have died from the coronavirus complications, how many of them were in your hospital?

"What nine deaths? Only in our hospital 14 people died from coronavirus until 4pm," he replied, to my surprise.

Numbers no longer matter. All health workers are worried about is how to save lives rather than announcing numbers.

The problem of the lack of oxygen is haunting patients. Continued lack of adherence to health instructions is another problem. Furthermore, there are parties who would politicize the pandemic to disrupt trust between the government and the public. Those parties either do not know, or do not care how many people are on a daily basis becoming the victim of this pandemic.

"There are parties who do not care even if 100,000 people fall victim, just to tarnish or topple the government," Hawrami said. "You see! Even in the subject of coronavirus, Sulaimani has become a victim of political rivalries."

Leaving the hospital, I had a walk down the Saholaka Street at night to see how life was going on out there. I felt like I was in another city, not Sulaimani. What I saw on the busy street was totally unlike the state of the hospitals. With every person I cross, in my mind, I started to wonder if there was coronavirus among them. I wondered if they are transmitting the disease to their family members, to the elderly, spreading a catastrophe. Who can reach out to save the lives of their loved ones?

Still, there are people who consider coronavirus to be a conspiracy made up by the government, in order to make the public forget about their unpaid salaries. Some people do not wear masks, thinking this a good way to retaliate against the government!

Without a doubt there is a delay in the payment of health workers salaries. Therefore, some of them have gone on strike. This development has added another burden on the already-fragile health system. You cannot know what disaster has stricken the beautiful city of Sulaimani, unless you take a walk into a COVID-19 hospital.

Politics is not my area of interest, nor my expertise. But I clearly see the ramifications of politics on the health sector of Sulaimani. For politicians to have no mercy on the poor people of this city just to achieve their political and party interests has not only wreaked havoc on the health of the public, but also exploited the financial and health crises to make their political gains on the expenses of the exhausted people of this beloved city.

"If anyone had put themselves in my shoes, they would have committed suicide long ago," Hawrami sighed. Hawrami is my close friend. I know that had he not been as strong as he is, he would not have been able to carry on with his duty.

As a physician, a media worker and a citizen of Kurdistan Region, I try to look at the big picture here. Sulaimani deserves stronger support from all sides. Sulaimani is now the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in Kurdistan, very much resembling the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first broke out.

What made all the difference was that Wuhan received abundant support from the Chinese government in just two days, which dispatched 42,000 physicians and nurses to the city. But Sulaimani, which has lost its strength, suffers from financial issues and has no support.

Sulaimani needs our help. Let's not allow it to struggle alone.

Translated by Zhelwan Z. Wali

Dr. Aras Bradosty is the head of Rudaw's health desk. 

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.