Special Report - Broken Health: The medical crisis that’s aggravating Iraq’s unrest

Workers manually package medicines at the State Company for Drugs Industries (SDI) factory in Samara, Iraq, February 24, 2019. Picture taken February 24, 2019. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - On the walls of Basra children's cancer hospital hang photos of some of the youngsters who've been treated there. Most are smiling. Some of the portraits have a black stripe in the upper left corner. Those are pictures of children who passed away.

Hesham Abdullah says he quit his office job to care for his son Mostafa, 14, and sold his house and all the family's valuables to pay for treatment. With no medical insurance, he estimates he has spent at least $120,000 on black market medicines and trips to overseas clinics. His family of five had to move in with his brother.