The Medical Committee of the PMOI – Camp Liberty:
Residents’ medical expenditures reached $4,754,000 for 2013 and 2014
907 residents, including 245 women, are waiting for urgent treatment with 117 of them in waiting list since 2012
NCRI – The Medical Committee of the PMOI – Camp Liberty announced in a statement that the medical expenditures of Liberty residents in 2013 and 2014 amounted to $2,168,866 and $2,585,610 respectively for a total of $4,754,476. This includes medicine, medical and dental material, and surgeries in Baghdad hospitals. Most of these expenditures have been paid up by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the supporters of PMOI/MEK, and the families of the residents. At the end of 2014, this committee owes over $750,000.
The statement by the Medical Committee of the PMOI – Camp Liberty has been signed by the committee chair as well as eleven other physicians, members of PMOI who reside in the camp. “Right now, 907, residents, including 245 women, are waiting for urgent medical treatment with 117 of them in the waiting list since 2012. The medical blockade of Camp Liberty and the innumerable restrictions imposed by the Iraqi forces against referral of residents to hospitals have been regularly brought to the attention of UNAMI, UNHCR and U.S. officials in camp’s daily reports. Government of Iraq is preventing the transfer of PMOI medical equipment from Ashraf to Camp Liberty that have been all purchased by residents during their residence in Ashraf. This is at a time when hundreds of patients and injured have been transferred abroad at extremely high cost and the cost of surgeries and hospitalization of many of them in various countries has each amounted to tens of thousands of Euros,” the statement adds.
The Medical Committee is calling for the annulment of the medical siege and the transfer of ambulances and necessary equipment and instruments, including CT scan, spirometer, X-ray machine, ultrasound machine, gastroscope, laparoscope, cystoscope, microscope, and various medical, dental and ophthalmological equipment from Ashraf to Camp Liberty to be used under the supervision of the Iraqi clinic to facilitate the treatment of the injured and the patients; thereby cutting down on the necessary referrals to hospitals outside the camp that are being obstructed by Iraqi officials. Due to the anti-human medical blockade which is a blatant crime against humanity and a violation of international laws and conventions, 23 PMOI members have so far lost their lives.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
January 22, 2015
Below is the full text of the statement by the Medical Committee of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) – Camp Liberty:
Medical expenditures for Camp Liberty residents under anti-human medical blockade amounts to $4,754,476 for 2013 and 2014
The Medical Committee of the PMOI – Camp Liberty announces the expenditures for the treatment of the injured and patients for 2013 and 2014 in conditions of an anti-human medical blockade imposed since the inception of Maliki government in 2006 and in 27 assaults with cold weapons and firearms, as well as explosions, bombings, massacres and rocket attacks on PMOI/MEK members.
The medical expenditures in 2013 and 2014 amounted to $2,168,866 and $2,585,610 respectively for the total sum of $4,754,476. These expenditures include treatment, medicine, basic medical and dental material, and the costs of surgeries in various hospitals in Baghdad.
Most of these expenditures were paid up by the President-elect of the Resistance, supporters and true families of PMOI in Ashraf. Nevertheless, by the end of 2014, the Medical Committee has an outstanding debt of $750,000 for the medical expenditures that its calculated interest is deposited monthly from out of Iraq.
Presently, a total number of 907 PMOI members, including 245 women and 662 men are awaiting urgent medical treatment with 117 of them in the waiting list since 2012. The condition of patients and the limited few that can refer to just one hospital on a daily basis with extraordinary restriction in the number of patients and interpreters are reflected in the daily reports that are regularly sent to UNAMI, UNHCR and U.S. officials. Nevertheless, despite all international condemnations by medical or defenders of human rights organizations, the anti-human siege continues and the transfer of residents’ medical equipment, bought entirely by the residents during the past years, from Ashraf to Camp Liberty is prevented. This is at a time when hundreds of patients and injured have been transferred abroad at very high costs and the cost of surgeries and hospitalization of many of them in various countries have each amounted to tens of thousands of Euros.
The Medical Committee of the PMOI – Camp Liberty expresses its sincerest gratitude to the President-elect of the Resistance, the supporters of Iranian people’s freedom fighters, and the true families of PMOI and calls for the annulment of the medical siege and the transfer of ambulances and necessary equipment and instruments, including CT scan, spirometer, X-ray machine, ultrasound machine, gastroscope, laparoscope, cystoscope, microscope, and various medical, dental and ophthalmological equipment such as eye laser, biometer, instruments for the emergency room and DC shock, equipment for the operating room such as anesthesia machine and surgical sets for ophthalmology, neurology, ENT, urology and orthopedic operations from Ashraf to Camp Liberty to be used under the supervision of the Iraqi clinic to facilitate the treatment of the injured and the patients; thereby cutting down on the necessary referrals to hospitals outside the camp that are being obstructed by Iraqi officials. During the anti-human medical blockade which is a blatant and constant crime against humanity and a violation of all international laws and conventions, 23 PMOI members have so far lost their lives. Doubtless, with access to medical services, their martyrdom could have been prevented.
Camp Liberty’s physicians and medical staff declare their commitment to the Hippocratic Oath to treat patients and injured and as was the case in Ashraf will be the last to leave Camp Liberty.
January 22, 2015
Committee Chair:
Zohreh Bani Jamali
Council of Physicians:
Dr. Nahid Bahrami
Dr. Tayyebeh Foroughi
Dr. Khadijeh Ashtiani
Dr. Javad Alawi
Dr. Yahya Kamali
Dr. Hassan Jazaeri
Dr. Saleh Eshaqtabar
Dr. Abbas Shahi
Dr. Mehdi Koloushadi
Dr. Moslem Zahedi
Dr. Jalil Arassi
Envoy of Council of Physicians to Germany:
Dr. Hadi Medqahchi
Envoy of Committee to Albania:
Mir Kazem Hosseini