UN: 4,800 amputation cases in Mosul conflict

Some 4,800 people had lost some of their limbs in the war against Daesh in Iraq’s Mosul, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) announced on Monday. Those disabled people require “urgent treatment”.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has welcomed a $614,246 (€500,000) grant from the Italian government to support rehabilitation services for people who suffered disabilities as a result of the conflict in Mosul, according to a statement by UNAMI.

“This necessary funding will help to establish a prosthetics and rehabilitation centre in Hamdaniya district south-east Mosul,” the UNAMI statement read.

The UN mission explained that the project would take 10 months to be completed and that it would provide special medical care and rehabilitation services to over 450 people, including 50 children under five as well as 300 above five.

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UNAMI noted that the newly established centre “will streamline” the identification and treatment plans of patients in need of prosthetics in Iraq’s northern city of Nineveh. “This will ensure better case management and medical follow-up procedures,” the UN mission stressed.

Iraq’s national capacity that delivers trauma, prosthetic, and rehabilitation services to the Mosul conflict victims “remains limited,” according to UNAMI.

“Currently, the Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration Centre in Suleimaniya is the only active center in the country specialised in physiotherapy and the production of upper and lower limbs in addition to walking aids and orthopaedic devices for persons with disabilities.”

Last March UNICEF announced that around 750,000 children in Mosul are struggling to receive basic health services, calling on donor countries to provide $17 million for the reconstruction of health facilities in Iraq.