IRAQ: Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian diaspora raise funds for coronavirus patients in Baghdede

BAGHDEDE, Iraq – Christian Chaldeans–Syriacs–Assyrians who were displaced from their ancestral homeland in Nineveh Plains in Iraq by the Islamic State (ISIS), and eventually emigrated out of the country, have stepped up for those suffering from the coronavirus pandemic in the region and have sponsored treatment for coronavirus patients in Baghdede.

Members of the diaspora from several countries raised more than $31,000 to establish a charitable pharmacy in the city to provide medicines for treating the coronavirus and medical equipment such as oxygen tanks.

One contributor to the campaign, Imad Sabih Gorgis, stated that, as expatriates, they stand in solidarity with the people of the region in this critical time in which the world, and especially countries in the Middle East, including Iraq, are going through a severe financial and economic crisis.

At the start of November, the number of coronavirus infections in Baghdede district surpassed 1,000 cases. Volunteer teams have stepped into the gap left by inadequate health services to provide support for those infected people.