Shafaq News..Financial crisis puts Iraq’s healthcare system at risk

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s healthcare sector could face a crisis that would
become difficult to contain if the country’s financial problems persist, the
head of Parliament’s Health and Anti-Narcotics Committee warned on Wednesday.

Adila Hamoud called on the Health Ministry to prioritize
maintaining a minimum level of healthcare services and establish a permanent
crisis team involving ministry departments and health directorates.

She also urged the ministry to press the government to
release funds allocated for medicines and medical supplies for patients with
cancer, blood and heart diseases, and kidney failure, as well as emergency
supplies and vaccines. “Funding was also needed to keep operating rooms and
emergency departments functioning.”

Read more: Iraq’s healthcare system nears collapse: Doctors
leave, hospitals overflow

On July 30, Health Minister Abdul Hussein Al-Mousawi
acknowledged that a government liquidity crisis had made salary payments a
priority. He said KIMADIA had received only 15% of its budget, leaving it
unable to meet its financial obligations or sign new contracts and putting
medicine supplies at risk.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Faleh Al-Sari noted that monthly
salary obligations total about 7.8 trillion Iraqi dinars (approximately $5.96
billion).

Read more: Iraq salary delays spark market slowdown, family hardship