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Writers ask for medical treatment for poet

KARBALA, Iraq, June 26 (UPI) -- Iraqi writers have called on the government to provide health treatment for the ailing poet Mohammed Ali al-Khafajy, who is suffering from kidney failure.

"Due to the sufferings of the great Iraqi poet and theater writer, Mohammed Ali al-Khafajy, from poor health conditions, forcing him to stay in bed, the Iraqi Writers are demanding the Iraqi government and the prime minister in person, along with Karbala's local administration to accelerate steps to treat poet Khafajy," the Karbala Writers Union said in Sunday report by Aswat al-Iraq.

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Karbala is about 70 miles south of Baghdad.

The writer's union said treating the poet at government expense "shall be a real achievement reflecting its attention and care for writers and cultural symbols of Iraq."

The poet told Aswat al-Iraq he has suffered from the failure of both kidneys for some time and an operation he paid for was unsuccessful.

"I have lost all my property, but the operation did not succeed, and I returned back home to stay in bed," Khafajy said.

Khafajy wrote his first poem in elementary school and by the time he became a secondary student, in 1956, that poem and several other pieces he wrote were read over Baghdad Radio.

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He has also written several theatrical pieces, among them "Hussein comes again," about Prophet Mohammed's grandson, martyr Imam Hussein.

The report didn't include any comments from the Iraqi government.

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