SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will tackle the issue of budget for Hiwa Cancer Hospital, said the health ministry on Saturday.
On Thursday, general director of health in Sulaimani Sabah Hawrami said the KRG had not provided funds for Hiwa Cancer Hospital in the past six months, causing shortages of medicine at the hospital.
Hospital’s healthcare workers went on a strike last week in protest of not being paid for over six months, and patients also staged a protest outside the hospital against the shortage of medicine.
Spokesman of Health Ministry Aso Hawezi said the KRG had always paid good attention to the hospitals, including the cancer centers, where patient services are free of charge.
“We ensure people and healthcare workers of Hiwa hospital and other cancer centers that any issue and shortages of needs, such as the provision of medical allowance, will be solved with the support of the prime minister, the council of ministers and in coordination with the finance ministry,” he added.
Hawezi further said the ministry would help the companies providing drugs to cancer hospitals receive their financial entitlements from the ministry of finance and economy so as to continue providing medicine and medical equipment to cancer patients in the Region.
The Sulaimani’s health director said on Thursday that the companies had halted providing medicines to Hiwa hospital after the KRG halted paying funds to the hospitals.
Hawrami 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.
Hiwa Hospital is a public hospital located in Sulaimani city, where cancer patients throughout Iraq are treated.
Regarding the closure of Hiwa hospital, Hawezi denied rumors that the hospital would be closed or would be given to a private sector.
