SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has halted funds used to buy medicine for Hiwa Cancer Hospital in the last six months, a senior health official said on Wednesday.
General Director of Health in Sulaimani Sabah Hawrami said the KRG had not provided funds for Hiwa Cancer Hospital, causing shortage of medicine at the hospital.
Hiwa Hospital is a public hospital located in Sulaimani city, where cancer patients throughout Iraq are treated.
“All the companies of medicine have halted providing medicines to Hiwa hospital,” he said in a statement.
His statement came after the hospital’s healthcare workers went on a strike in protest of not being paid for over six months. Patients also staged a protest outside the hospital against the shortage of medicine.
The health director said there were patients who had spent 20 million ($13,562) Iraqi dinars to buy medicine only for 21 days.
“There was a family who had sold their car to [buy] cancer medicine, but it was still not enough for the patients’ needs,” he added.
