Mosul Refugee Camp Special Report

News 12 Now correspondent James Mahon visits a refugee camp on the outskirts of Mosul asking what more needs to be done to help those who cannot return home.

It is the first report in an exclusive News 12 Now 5 part series from the Middle East.

MOSUL—The United Nations estimates that 3 million Iraqis have been left homeless due to the ISIS occupation of Mosul.

A staggering half of these are small children.

“The people don’t have anything, they need our help,” said Dr. Ayuoub of the AMAR foundation.

For nearly 30 years the AMAR foundation has been delivering emergency medical aid in Iraq. Their clinics like this one on the outskirts of Mosul can be built and open for business in just 10 days.

Acute gastroenteritis, asthma, tonsillitis are just some of the issues Dr. Ayuoub deals with on a daily basis but adds his team of a dozen cannot handle every case.

“There are some patients they have dental problem, it is not my specialty, I cannot deal with them, I am not a dentist,” he says.

Some health issues cannot not be cured with an injection or a bandage.

“There are many psychological problems here, because they are in a camp, it is not so nice for them, many of their problems come from the overcrowded area”.

The AMAR clinic also provides optometry and pharmacy support for almost 150 patients a day.

“[We have] Doxycycline, iron, Panderum, tablets for suppository and aspirin,” says Walid  Uousif of the Pharmacy Department.

The Mathur family of 8 share one tent with no air conditioning, sleeping on concrete floors but tell News 12 Now, here they cannot hear bullets and bombs.

The camp  still has more than half of its capacity and they are awaiting more and more refugees from the western part of Mosul next week.

For News 12 now, outside Mosul this is James Mahon.