Iraq's brain drain

Back to Baghdad

Sarah Muthanna is from Jordan; she is a 21-year-old Iraqi medical student who was forced by growing violence to flee Baghdad when her father was kidnapped last year.

Like hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, she found refuge in Jordan's capital Amman, but longs to return home to help treat her countryfolk wounded in the chaos.

Amid the general violence unfolding in Iraq, Sarah was struck by the sinister practice by death squads of targeting academics, students and doctors. Although official statistics are hard to come by, these crimes seem to be getting worse.

Systematically threatened and assassinated at their offices, clinics and lecture halls, academics and doctors are fleeing Iraq - a country once renowned for its centres of learning.

Dreams of becoming a doctor

Sarah was a medical student at the Baghdad College of Medicine until she was forced to leave the city last year when her father was kidnapped. To this day, nothing has been heard of his whereabouts.

Sarah dreams of becoming a doctor, but has struggled to keep up with her studies since leaving Iraq. She has not been allowed to join a college in Jordan.

She remains enrolled at Baghdad university and keeps in touch with her teachers and fellow students via the internet - collecting lecture notes and assignment topics.

To complete the third year of her medical degree, Sarah had to return to Iraq in July 2007 to take exams at her university. Sarah describes her emotional and dangerous journey back to Baghdad. . .

Sarah has now returned to Baghdad to continue her studies in Medicine. She sent this update to Your Story at the end of February.

Story update: March 4, 2008

I am sorry it has been a long time since you last heard from me, my internet connection is absolutely useless.

I can never get the internet to work when the electricity is on, and as soon as the electricity goes off - the internet works perfectly again! I have not been able to open my inbox for two months. But do not worry I'm ok and still buried under a mountain of books and lectures!

I just finished my mid term exams a couple of days ago, so I am just starting to recover from a month of medicine, surgery, pathology exams and all the other horrible stuff we have to do!

I am living with my sister in Baghdad, things are a lot better here now, and it has been easy for us to manage on our own.

Security is much much better, we drive around in our relatively new car without being frightened of kidnapping or anything of the sort, the shops are staying open late and there is a general sense of relief among people.




"Outstanding Sarah, I saw it on the BBC website itself. Really touched us, my sympathy with you. Take care my friend and keep up the good work. I'm so Proud of you and every one whom gave you a hand in your project. Thank you everyone for making us proud of being Iraqis outside."
Posted by The Knight

"It was a privilege to have cooperated with you guys, Fahad, Farah, Hanan, and Sarah. I hope the show achieves its goal by bringing attention to this heartbreaking brain drain."
Posted by m7md7atem

More feedback can be found at the Baghdad College of Medicine forum.

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