Iraq calls for doctors who fled violence to return

AP/Yahoo News, August 4, 2008

Iraq's Health Ministry has appealed to physicians who fled the country due to violence to return to their jobs because security has improved. A deputy minister of health said more than 165 Iraqi doctors have responded and resumed their work over the past 20 days, and he expected more than 90% to return this year. The violence of the past five years, much of which targeted professionals, "had forced the majority of the Iraqi doctors to abandon their hospitals and clinics" Essam Namiq, MD, told a news conference in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. A package of incentives has been made available by the ministry to encourage those doctors to return home, Namiq said.