People of Baghdad guard hospitals from looters

The group of young men standing at the gates of Al- Kindi hospital in blue surgical gowns were not doctors or medical orderlies. The giveaway was the Kalashnikov automatic weapon each of them nursed. "We are volunteers who are protecting the hospital from looters and thieves," said Hayder Daoud, a 30-year-old engineer with close-cropped hair and several days' stubble.

"The British and American forces will not protect us so we have to protect ourselves. None of us work here, we just organised ourselves. Some of us are from the neighbourhood, some are from farther away."

As Baghdad slips deeper into lawlessness the looters are turning to hospitals. Not content with stealing from official buildings or government ministries now set alight and clogging the sky with dirty smoke, looters are making off with everything from incubators to heart monitors.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said yesterday it doubted any hospital in Baghdad was still working because of "anarchy" on the city's streets. Its spokeswoman, Nada Doumani, said an ICRC official in the Iraqi capital had told her: "Probably there are no more hospitals functioning because of looting [and] lack of medical personnel."

The ICRC's assessment is incorrect. Several hospitals are working and some are busy indeed but the position is grave. Doctors say they are already stretched because of the additional patients from the US-led war and injuries from looting or looters.

About 25 people suffering from gunshot wounds were taken to Al-Kindi hospital yesterday morning. Doctors who treated them before transferring them to other hospitals said most were looters shot by shop owners trying to protect their property.

On Thursday, the hospital in the Mustansiriyah district of central Baghdad had been raided by armed looters who had stripped it of much of its contents including beds, electrical fittings and medical equipment. Mr Daoud and his friends were trying to protect what little was left.

Other hospitals have been looted. One journalist said a young boy, allegedly a looter, was beaten to death in front of him by an enraged mob. There have also been reports that a children's hospital in the Mansur district and a maternity hospital had been looted.

The ICRC said it had visited the 650-bed Medical City hospital and found few people being treated. Operating theatres are not functioning. "There are no more instruments in any case," Ms Doumani said. At the Al-Khadasia hospital in Saddam City in north-east Baghdad, local people – again wearing blue gowns – were also standing guard. The hospital was busy, said one doctor who asked not to be named, though its only electricity was provided by a generator.

"We have many patients," he told The Independent. "Many people have been shot by the Americans at roadblocks. Many people do not know what to do and they approach too fast and they get shot. It's possible some people here have been injured by looters. Many are from areas far away from here."

Then came civil affairs officers from the US Marines trying to distribute medicine and medical equipment they said was from a hoard at a Baath party building. Many at the hospital did not want the medicine, claiming they had sufficient supplies. Officials consulted the area Shia imam, and said they would accept the supplies. "There is a lot of politics involved," US Major David Hallahan said. "I am trying to walk a fine line between co-operation and imposing our will. There are many people who don't like us."