Key Activities

1. Researching and updating the medical needs of Iraqi paediatric hospitals.

2. From 1995, MAIC used to present the compiled medical list to the Department of Trade and Industry to acquire the approval of the UN Sanctions Committee as well as obtain the British Export License. This activity ended at the removal of the UN Sanctions in 2003.

3. Raising funds and purchasing the medicines and medical equipment on the list thus approved and authorised.

4. Forwarding the medical supplies to Iraq and distributing them to paediatric hospitals.

MAIC has established a small but very efficient geographical network between London, Amman, and Baghdad, which enables the Charity to periodically provide medical supplies to children's hospitals in Iraq.

The success of the Charity in performing its humanitarian mission under complex internal and external constraints is only made possible by the commitment of its members and the efficiency of its logistical network.

MAIC faces significant hardship in performing its humanitarian work due to the country's vulnerable status. Under the past UN Sanctions period no flights were permitted to fly in and out of Iraq and although the sanctions have now been lifted few commercial flights have resumed.

MAIC continues with its past transportation method of air freighting its medical shipments to Amman, after which they are sent via a hazardous road journey to Iraq. The gruelling route through the desert usually takes 14 to 16 hours. MAIC ensures that all its shipments are escorted and have arrived safely to their destination except for one which was air freighted to Basra courtesy of Virgin Atlantic Airlines on 1 May 2003. It was handled by the coalition forces and resulted in the loss of significant medical supplies. Since then, MAIC resumed delivering and distributing its medical consignments through its regular channels and has successfully delivered all its shipments to date.