Baghdad, Iraq: International Medical Corps and Agility join hands to ensure speedy delivery of essential supplies to strife-affected hospitals.

International Medical Corps (IMC) and global logistics giant Agility, have teamed up to deliver essential medical supplies and equipment to Rasafa district in Baghdad, home to Al Sadr City. Agility trucked 47 pallets of life-sustaining medical supplies to IMCs’ warehouse in Baghdad.

Sadr City is one of the poorest and most volatile neighborhoods in the Iraqi capital. IMC has worked in Sadr City for many years and has responded to several emergencies under dangerous and challenging circumstances. IMC personnel distributed the donation to hospitals that desperately need the supplies.

More than 10,000 people are directly benefiting from the equipment that includes oxygen saturation monitors, administration regulators, nebulizers, food pumps, pain control infusion pumps, pediatric resuscitation units, suction pumps, incubators, baby warmers, heart start units, ultrasound machines, syringes, surgical gloves and wheel chairs.

“Agility quickly responded to our requirements and clearly understood the magnitude of the task at hand,” says Rabih Torbay, International Medical Corps Vice President of International Operations. “By employing their logistics expertise and regional know-how, Agility supported us in an emergency response effort that saved, and will continue to save, many lives.”

Sadr City is densely populated and home to one to three million people, most of them poor day laborers. Even during peaceful times the neighborhood suffers from a lack of water, electricity, and other services. In April and May this year, thousands got trapped when armed factions turned the area into a battle field. Weeks of violent clashes claimed more than 1,000 lives and left several thousands injured. The ongoing insecurity has led many primary health care centers to close down entirely, just as one of the main hospitals – Shaheed Al Sadr Hospital – came under rocket attack.

As a result, health services were restricted to emergency trauma cases and supplies ran out. Both staff and patients experienced difficulty in accessing the area’s hospitals. The supplies were delivered at a critical time as the population struggles to return to normalcy.

“Agility is proud to be associated with the mission to replenish the necessary medical supplies at all the district’s hospitals and we will continue to work with International Medical Corps on life-saving operations,” said Mariam Al-Foudery, Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at Agility.