Iraqi daily lives: Samir Ali

The BBC News website has spoken to a range of Iraqis about their daily lives, and is publishing a series of their stories this week. Samir Ali, 31, is a urologist in one of Baghdad's three main teaching hospitals. He is originally from Kirkuk, in the north of Iraq.

A year ago, we had 11 specialists in the renal unit and about 40 resident doctors in the hospital.

Now we have three specialists and a maximum of nine resident doctors.

They have all either left the country, or moved to different areas of Iraq. Either to Kurdistan or to southern cities, depending on their ethnic group.

I am from Kirkuk but I have stayed in Baghdad because I wanted to finish my studies.

The remaining doctors are overloaded. They are worn out doing operations in theatre. They are sometimes on duty for two to three days.

They are under so much pressure they are applying to work in other hospitals. They want to be in hospitals that are smaller, or that are in areas with less trouble.

I used to go home every other week or sometimes weekly, but that's impossible now because it's dangerous and takes so long

I work in Baghdad's medical city. This is a grouping of major teaching hospitals and Iraq's top professors work here.

We have two types of work - normal and emergency. The emergency cases are usually bomb victims.

We have one emergency unit overnight in the medical city.

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Even here, in the medical city, we don't have the staff to make up the full overnight team.

A bomb victim may suffer from head, kidney and bowel injuries. Operating teams should contain surgeons from all these specialisms.

But they don't, so patients have to be moved. And you know how difficult it is to move in Baghdad, especially at night.

You can't imagine how many patients are lost for this reason.

I passed my final exams three weeks ago. But I am disappointed. I cannot open my own clinic because it's the easiest place to be kidnapped in.

I live inside the hospital and go home to my mother and sister in Kirkuk once a month.

There are guards and police who stand in front of the main doors of the hospital and the home block. Although most of them are trying to protect the doctors, we are afraid that some of them may be members of the militia

The journey is about 300km and usually takes about seven hours.

I used to go home every other week or sometimes weekly, but that's impossible now because it's dangerous and takes so long.

I feel secure inside the hospital because I know most of the people I meet.

But the problem is when I travel from hospital to home, or when I transfer a patient to another hospital.

There are guards and police who stand in front of the main doors of the hospital and the home block.

Although most of them are trying to protect the doctors, we are afraid that members of the militia may be among them.

I want to stay in the hospital because it's supplied with equipment that I need in my work.

I am in Baghdad for professional reasons, although it would be better for me personally to live in Kirkuk, where my family would protect me.