LONDON: Exposure to violence is putting the Iraqi people at risk of serious psychological damage, according to a doctor writing in Friday's British Medical Journal.

Michael Reschen, a senior medic at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, southeast England, told the BMJ that until now, the US-led coalition had focused on providing basic medical help to injured civilians.

But more psychiatric help was required because of the effects of violence on civilians, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), that could hinder efforts to get the troubled country back on its feet, he added.

Reschen cited a controversial study published in The Lancet medical journal last month that suggested that more than 500,000 Iraqis have been killed since the start of military action there in March 2003.

He also quoted a 1995 study that suggested the risk of developing PTSD following a traumatic incident ranges from 7.5 percent to 72 percent, with people exposed to “sustained combat trauma” most at risk.

“With an excess of over 500,000 violent deaths, there will no doubt have been many more people exposed to grave violence,” he wrote.

“It therefore seems likely that the nation of Iraq may suffer a double blow, firstly by losing a sizeable proportion of its working population and secondly by the significant consequences of people suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.””Cultural barriers” preventing people from seeking psychological help may compound the problem, he added.

Reschen said there were “ample examples” of rebuilding psychiatric facilities after the Balkan conflict of the mid-1990s.

“We must learn the lessons of history and expedite the psychiatric help for Iraqi civilians,” he added.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair in January 2003, published in the BMJ and The Lancet, a group of British doctors warned that war against Iraq could leave half a million people dead, most of them non-combattants.—AFP