The Geneva-based organization said water supplies are also running short in and around the Iraqi capital.

"Our delegates in Baghdad have told us that hospitals are really struggling and are stretched to their full capacity to deal with the war wounded," said Florian Westphal, an ICRC spokesman in Geneva.

"There seems to be sufficient medical material available, but the problem is that the staff are finding it difficult to reach their workplace," he added.

The influx took its toll on the hospital's resources which ran out of surgical equipment for the first time during the fighting. The ICRC had to lend the hospital a truck to fetch supplies.

According to the ICRC, six expatriate employees are still manning the ICRC office in Baghdad, along with 40 to 50 Iraqis.

The humanitarian organization is currently focusing its aid efforts on hospitals and water treatment plants in Iraq. It is also visiting the thousands of Iraqi soldiers captured by coalition forces.

The ICRC has already registered 4,500 Iraqi prisoners of war (POWs). Delegates have yet to see coalition POWs held by the Iraqis.

"Contacts on the issue are ongoing," explained Westphal, "but given the situation, it could be very difficult to go where these prisoners are being held."

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2003)