Baghdad, January 26: A new law allowing doctors to carry weapons for protection is stirring uproar among other professionals who also complain of facing life threats and demand equal treatment, though many remain sceptical that self-arming is the answer to the insecurity problem.
“Only physicians are able to protect their lives with their own hands, while we have to change our jobs or flee Iraq,” Feiraz Ahmed al-Ghazalat, a member of the Iraqi Professors Committee, told.
Under a law approved by the cabinet last week, doctors would be allowed to carry weapons for self protection.
New Iraq
The government hopes this would persuade doctors from fleeing the war-shattered country and lure those abroad to come back.
Official estimates show at least one-third of Iraq’s 40,000 doctors have fled the country.
Physicians had been a favorite target of kidnapping-for-ransom and murder in recent years.
But other professionals believe the law is discriminatory by denying them the same protection accorded to doctors.
“In the past years I was threatened by the families of many students to pass them in exams which they had failed,” says Ghazalat who teaches dentistry at Mustansiriyah University.
“One of my friends was killed for refusing, but if he had a gun with him, he would have had the chance to defend himself from those criminals,” added the professor, who was forced to quit his job and now gives private lectures at home.
Muhammad Shakarchi, a pharmacist in Baghdad, also slams the law as unfair.
“Although doctors are very important for the health and development of a country, other professionals are as well, and they suffer from threats, kidnappings and are being forced to flee Iraq to save their lives.”
Shakarchi fled the country three years ago after threats to his life and only returned six months ago.
“I requested protection from the local police but it was denied and they also prohibited me from carrying any kind of weapons.
“So when I see the government allowing physicians to clutch them, I feel inferior.”
No Solution
Yet, many believe self-arming is not the answer to the deteriorating law and order problem.
“There are too many lives here in need of the same armor,” Col. Ali al-Arajie, a senior member of Al-Mansour police station, told.
He insists that protecting doctors, other professionals and all Iraqis should remain the duty of the security agencies rather than leaving a certain group looking after its own safety.
“Instead, the government could offer paying private security.”
There are no exact numbers on how many professionals have been killed or kidnapped since the US-led 2003 invasion.
But according to government sources the number is in the thousands.
The Health Ministry alone says that more than 650 medical employees have been killed.
A 2008 UN report said there was a worrying increase in attacks on professionals such as doctors, teachers, artists, lawyers, ex-military officers and journalists.
Col. Arajie cautions that civilians could be caught in any crossfire between untrained professionals and their attackers.
“Physicians aren’t trained to carry weapons. It is true that they are living under a critical situation but it could be useless if they cannot handle it and instead put other innocent lives in dangerous.”
Ayad al-Bu Ajeel, an urologist at the Medical City Hospital, is also an opponent of the law that gives him the right to carry a gun.
“I cannot image myself carrying a gun under my lab coat inside a hospital or clinic.”
He insists that a gun for every doctor is not the solution to the lack of security in Iraq.
“I lost friends killed by criminals or tribal families who were demanding unfair compensations. I’m sure that even if they had a gun in their belts, they would not have done much to save their lives.”
Ajeel believes that if the government really wants to protect them, there are so many ways like affording bodyguards or affording x-ray machines at the main gates of hospitals.
“We didn’t graduate to make our own personal security.”
-Agencies