Hello dear friends,

This is Ali

TOMORROW IS A great day for him and for the team of Medecins Sans Frontieres in Mehran, Iran. As part of the MSF package of programs for surgical treatment of Iraqi war victims, we will do our first elective operation tomorrow, and Ali will be our first patient.

HE IS 25 years old and this is his story:

ALI LIVES IN Baghdad. Four years ago he was driving through the city to take his sick brother to hospital. His mother and his pregnant sister were with them in the car. As they reached an American check-point, the soldiers opened fire without warning. Ali’s mother and his sister died immediately. His brother survived a gunshot wound to the head but he is now blind. Ali himself received a gunshot to his femur just above the knee. This fracture is healed now, but he can only bend his knee 30 degrees. He is in constant pain when walking. He can only walk 200 yards and he is unable to work.

WHEN ALI CAME home from hospital, an American general appeared at his house and apologized for the incident. He said that Ali’s family had been shot accidentally.

TOMORROW (12.04.08) I will operate on Ali. He is convinced that it will bring him strength if as many people as possible think about him at this time; and I believe that as many people as possible should know his story.

NOW YOU KNOW.

Dr Michael Rosck
Orthopaedic Surgeon
Mehran, MSF

PS
12.04.08 - 21.30 ALI’S OPERATION WENT well and we hope that he will make good progress post-operatively