The base's clinic, located next to the barracks, is similar to an ordinary urban clinic as regards its size and facilities. A woman wearing the doctor's traditional white coat is in charge of the clinic. She explains that only emergency cases and chronic diseases are treated here. All other cases are referred to the NLAs main hospital.
Next to the dental section is the office of Dr. Abbas Shakeri. He is about
45 years old, thin, with glasses that seem slightly too large for his lean
face. He is a skillful surgeon, whose appearance and background more suggest
a chief of surgery at a hospital than a military doctor at an NLA base.
Dr. Shakeri is a favorite with the combatants. He teases everyone and is
never still.
An NLA officer tells us how in 1984, a Mojahedin combatant had been wounded at a remote point in Kurdistan and could not be immediately transferred to the clinic. Using a by minute operated and saved the man's life. In the past, when Resistance units lacked sufficient facilities, this surgeon perfor med emergency operations by candlelight without even having minimal facilities. He modestly says: "Fortunately, my patientes were die-hards and survived!"
Before long, Abbas Shakeri had developed a reputation as a "miracle worker" among the Resistance combatants and even the local people whom he treated. Dr. Shakeri says: "Today's situation cannot be compared with the past. The NLAs medical network, run by doctors in or affiliated with the Army, extends to all the NLA bases and centers and provides various medical services, including dental and surgical, in its clinics and hospitals . "
The line of patients waiting to see the ``miracle worker'' outside his office is growing long. We say good-bye, al though I regret not having more time to talk with a person who has been treating the Resistance's wounded for seven years.
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