Iraq and a hard place

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The troubles have not deterred Baghdad's dental students from attending lectures.

MED caught up with Baghdad-based oral surgeon, Dr Faaiz Al Hamadani, to hear the truth about the country's security situation and whether stability is enough to tempt Iraq's dentists to come home.

The Iraqi government has said the security situation is stable. How true is that claim?

It's not stable, but it is improving and there is a slow progression in the right direction. I, for example, am now returning to my home in Baghdad after leaving because of the security situation a year ago. Areas around the city are now much safer, but there is still the threat of danger.

There are more security forces on the streets in the dangerous areas and as a result, the safety of physicians, dentists and hospital workers has been greatly improved.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is urging displaced dentists to return home. How likely is this to happen?

There is a good number of dentists who will be tempted to return home, but the government can't expect that to be in the immediate future. Those that have settled in places like the US or the UK are unlikely to return to a war-torn country. Many of them have been there since the 1990s and have settled their families there now.

Those that work in the neighbouring Arab countries like Syria, Jordan and Saudi are more likely to return, but even that will not be immediate. I estimate it will be between six months and a year before we start to see any real numbers arriving.

What opportunities are there for dentists returning from abroad?

Dentists are badly needed in Baghdad and other areas. Any that choose to return won't be short of career opportunities. However, I don't think this is the issue at hand.

Returning dentists will want more assurances that an infrastructure will be in place to allow them to work, and I also think what they really want is to feel secure. While we have seen a huge improvement in security recently, for many of these dentists it still doesn't seem solid enough.

Has the targeting of healthcare professionals by insurgents stopped?

Most of the threats were directed at specialist dentists, but these are much fewer now and many can go about their business in relative safety.

Five months ago there were big problems with equipment supply and the looting of clinics. How has this changed?

There doesn't seem to be a major problem with this at the moment. There are rare occasions when hospitals and government clinics struggle to source equipment, but in the private sector there is no issue.

In fact, some of the private clinics have very advanced equipment and they don't seem to have any problems sourcing the products or getting the finances to pay for them.

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