Long queues at Czech field hospital in Iraq

Doctors at the Czech military field hospital in Basra, southern Iraq, are working around the clock in an effort to keep up with long queues of sick and injured Iraqi civilians. The World Health Organization has warned about the threat of cholera in southern Iraq linked to poor sanitation and war but so far, cholera has not been detected by Czech doctors deployed in Basra. About 400 people regularly queue outside the hospital tents, but on their best day the doctors and nurses have treated only 77 patients. Most civilians suffer from infections, skin disease, diarrhoea and chronic ailments.