Health chiefs battle to bring back Iraqi doctors

AP/Yahoo News, September 8, 2008

Approximately 800 doctors who fled Iraq's bombings, kidnappings and sectarian killings have returned over the summer. Although the doctors are just a tiny group among Iraq's more than 4 million refugees and displaced, Iraq's health minister says their homecoming sends a message that security has "improved dramatically." Some 8,000 physicians have abandoned jobs at government health centers since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Their departure has further crippled a healthcare system plagued by corruption, mismanagement and a lack of equipment and drugs.