War and corruption has a lot to do with why the Iraqi healthcare system is in such rough shape right now, but so does a systemic lack of medical education, according to USA Today.
"Medical care was locked in a time warp in the '70s because doctors couldn't attend meetings or obtain journals. The isolation Saddam (Hussein) put them through was a kind of terrorism itself, [Jim Haveman, President Bush's newly appointed health advisor to the provisional authority] says."
The authority has a lot of work to do to live up to its pledge to restructure Iraq s healthcare system, and increasing medical education access, while just one piece of the puzzle, can only help. But with today s visa hassles, chances are Iraqi docs won t be coming to the U.S. in droves to get that education, and it s doubtful that many non-Iraqis will be heading to that war-torn country until it stabilizes, especially now that Doctors Without Borders has pulled out.
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