Iraqis face problems in obtaining medical care in a country that has seen about half of its doctors leave the country since the U.S. invasion in 2003. As doctors and nurses leave Iraq, many of the 142 medical clinics that the U.S. taxpayers paid $264 million to build have staffing shortages.

But the problem isn't confined to trying to staff U.S.-built medical facilities. Iraq built hospitals and clinics also lack enough physicians and nurses to provide medical care to sick, injured, pregnant and newborn Iraqis.

"For at least two women in every 12 who seek emergency delivery assistance here, either the mother or her child dies," Dr. Ibrahim Khalil, a gynecologist at Al-Karada maternity hospital, was quoted by AlterNet as saying.

Some of the reasons for doctors and nurses leaving Iraq are the typical reasons that cause anyone to move: a chance for a better job with better opportunities for advancement and more pay elsewhere.

But other Iraqi doctors and nurses have left to escape the every day violence and hardship of living in a war zone.

According to a recent report by Oxfam International, which used statistics from the Iraqi Medical Association, there are several reasons half of Iraq's doctors have left the country in the past four years. Along with leaving for better opportunities, some of the doctors fled because they had been targeted by militants because they were physicians, or because of their religion.

Medical care services "are generally in a catastrophic situation" in Baghdad and across Iraq, Oxfam officials said, according to USA Today.

The ongoing exodus of trained doctors and nurses has upset U.S. officials.

"We are concerned because there's never enough medical staff," said Navy Cmdr. Steve Frost was quoted as saying by USA Today. Frost had supervised the construction of U.S.-built clinics in and around Baghdad.

"Medical staff seems to be leaving the country for other jobs and it takes time to train" them," Frost continued.

But OXFAM said the exodus is not limited to doctors and nurses, up to 40 percent of all Iraq's professionals have already used their training and job skills to relocate outside of Iraq. Those that have left since the U.S. invaded include teachers and engineers.

It will take time to train their replacements. In the meantime, more of Iraq's professionals continue to leave the war-torn nation.