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The Baby Doctor

A moving portrait of the efforts of Iraq's doctors as they struggle to cope with the shocking legacy of years of fighting.

Doctors in Iraq’s war-ravaged city of Fallujah are dealing with the shocking legacy of years of fighting. Hundreds of children there are being born with deformities, including Fatima Ahmed, the girl with two heads.

Locals are starting to focus on possible reasons for the astonishing rise in congenital defects, with the prime suspect being potential chemical or radiation poisonings linked to toxic materials, such as white phosphorus, left over from the conflicts.

Sky Correspondent Lisa Holland first reported on Fallujah’s birth abnormalities in 2008. Her report was seen by Professor Kypros Nicolaides, a world authority in prenatal surgery. Shocked by what he saw, he founded a scholarship programme for doctors from Fallujah, in a first step to understanding the unprecedented problems now facing the city.

Dr Muntaha Hashim is the first doctor to embark on the new programme and this moving documentary follows her journey from Iraq to Jordan and then to London, as she begins her training.

A new life, a massive culture shock and a huge learning curve lie ahead of her as she is confronted by the enormity of the challenge. Fallujah’s healthcare system can’t cope with what it’s facing, but for now, Dr Hashim is the children of Fallujah’s best hope.

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