Iraq tries to entice back doctors who fled violence

By Aseel Kami BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi government is trying to entice back hundreds of doctors who fled the country because of rampant violence and says improved security is already leading some to return. Rasheed al-Nassiri, head of the government's "Committee to Protect Doctors", said more than 400 Iraqi doctors had come back this year, encouraged by a drop in violence and better wages. "Migration has stopped and now we are working hard to encourage migration in the opposite direction," Nassiri told a conference held in Baghdad this week to look at how to encourage doctors to return to the war-torn country. Doctors and other professionals fled in their hundreds during the explosion of violence in the years following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, triggering an enormous brain drain. But much attention has focused on... [read full story]