Iraqi doctors use acupuncture during drug shortage

Iraqi doctors faced with a shortage of anesthetic drugs in a capital city hit by years of conflict have successfully used acupuncture to treat mothers during cesarean section births. Reporting on Thursday on a small study of 200 cases at a Baghdad hospital, the doctors said their results suggested the ancient Chinese technique could also be a useful addition to standard medical practice in fully equipped hospitals. The doctors used acupuncture, where fine needles are inserted into certain points on the body, to see if they could replace or reduce the need for a drug called oxytocin which is often given to mothers just after a c-section delivery to help the womb contract and to cut the risk of bleeding. Oxytocin is a hormone that also occurs naturally in the body during labor. The study covered emergency cesarean section at the Red Crescent Hospital for Gynecology and Obstetrics in Baghdad between 2004 and 2006, when oxytocin stocks were low.