FUNDED by Sunday Times readers, the British medical charity Merlin started work in Baghdad’s hospitals last week to help victims of war such as three-year-old Zahraa Kathem, writes Hala Jaber.

Zahraa suffered terrible burns when her father Ali Kathem’s taxi was caught in an American airstrike on April 4. She and her three-month-old sister, Hawraa, were thrown from the car by their mother Rasmiyeh, 26, after it caught fire with the family trapped inside. Both parents and five siblings died.

The Merlin team found Zahraa at Karemeh hospital, where, loosely wrapped in bandages, she trembled as second and third degree burns covering her face, back, arms and legs were examined.

“Cold . . . cold,” she murmured, her arms shaking uncontrollably. “Cover me, mummy. Where are you, daddy? I’m cold.” The sight of her small frame and the sound of her pleading reduced everyone present to tears.

Although the Karemeh hospital was not looted, it cannot provide the treatment Zahraa needs. Its equipment is poor and it lacks drugs, oxygen and clean water.

Apart from burns, Zahraa has injuries to her legs and right arm and also septicaemia. She must be transferred to a sterile ward to survive. She is forced to lie on her side in an old metal bed, with an improvised wooden cage over her chest to stop the sheets touching her burnt flesh.

“Unless the child is removed and treated in extremely sterile conditions she will die in three to four days. Someone must be able to help her: she has already lost and suffered too much,” said a doctor, Bilal al-Radaeei. She is too young to understand that almost all her family is dead.

The Merlin team watched as her grandmother struggled with the loss. “Please help my little girl Zahraa. Please do not let her die. Please take her away, but make her better for me,” she said.

It was a cry for help the British charity hopes it can answer, with help from Sunday Times readers who gave more than £35,000 last week. “This money will enable us to help the sick, wounded and those desperately in need,” said Geoff Prescott of Merlin.

Please help Merlin to bring aid to Iraq. You can make a donation by telephone, using your credit card, on 020 7378 4892/3