Expatica news

Seriously ill Iraqi children arrive for health care

12 January 2006

BARCELONA — Forty Iraqi youngsters have arrived in Spain to receive medical care at hospitals under a programme sponsored by a Spanish newspaper.

Most of the children, all aged 15 and younger, are suffering from cancer, heart ailments or hearing problems, for which they will be treated at specialized Spanish health care centres.

Accompanied by relatives, the children arrived at the Barcelona airport and from there they will be taken to their final destinations in various Spanish cities.

Also participating in the humanitarian initiative, sponsored by the free daily newspaper ¡Que!, are the regional governments of Catalonia, Madrid, Asturias and Aragon.

The promoters of the project have also received help from the Spanish foreign ministry and the Iraqi health ministry, which was in charge of selecting the kids and performing a preliminary evaluation of their illnesses and/or medical conditions.

The children travelled from Baghdad to Amman on board a jet owned by Royal Jordanian Airlines, the only airline that operates at the Iraqi capital’s airport, and from there they took a Spanair flight to Barcelona.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news