ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – More than five years after a devastating fire in Iranian Kurdistan killed two Kurdish schoolgirls and injured 37 others, the government is still refusing to send victims for medical treatment abroad, and so one father will appeal to President Hassan Rouhani. “Beside burn injuries, the girls have faced psychological problems. We have asked for the government to provide a psychologist for them. The girls don’t go to public events and often are angry and depressed,” Jalal Moradi, the father of Sima Moradi who is one of the girls, told Rudaw English. In December 2012, an oil heater exploded in a school in the village of Shinabad, near Piranshahr in Iran's West Azerbaijan province. “Even doctors in Tehran tell us that it is better to send the girls abroad because Iran does not have enough expertise to cure the girls. We will request to meet President Rouhani to voice our concerns,” Moradi added. Thirty-seven of the girls were injured, twelve of them severely, including losing fingers. “As of now, the injured school girls have received 139 physiotherapy sessions, 188 surgeries, 438 skin grafts, and 84 laser treatments,” Taib Qadimi, the executive deputy of Iran's healthcare ministry, told Etemaadonline news agency. The girls make monthly trips to Tehran for care. The MP for Piranshahr, Rasoul Khezri, said earlier this week that a committee from the health ministry would consider sending the girls abroad for treatment. However, that committee decided they could receive the necessary treatment in Iran, Qadimi said on Thursday. "On June 19, a committee of medical experts on burn injuries at Hazrati Fatima Hospital in Tehran gathered the case of Shinabad victims. They have looked at all the girls and decided to do more surgeries and medical treatment inside Iran," he said. Seyran Yeganeh and Sarina Rasoulzadeh lost their lives. Their families received compensation from the government because the accident was at a public school. But the amount the families received was half what they would have received, if they had been boys. Under Sharia law in Iran, females receive half the compensation as males in accidents. Primary healthcare in Iran has been rated as “excellent” by UNICEF. “Rural areas in some parts of the country are not fully covered and health centers are inadequately equipped to meet community needs,” reads a UNICEF evaluation of Iran’s health system. The rural areas of Iran are also some of the poorest. Wealthy people are often able to travel to Europe for specialized medical care or cosmetic surgeries.
