According to Maliki, “There is an urgent need to develop health care services and overcome the obstacles hindering the completion of some health care projects, in particular projects for the construction of large hospitals, which were supposed to be completed and ready by now, to provide services to citizens.”
Maliki confirmed to the Ministry of Health officials that “if the deadline for completing these projects had been respected, then these services would have witnessed a quantum leap, helping to address the shortages from which we currently suffer. Iraqi citizens have been forced to travel to receive treatment.” Maliki requested that Ministry of Health officials “submit a full statement on the obstacles they face in their work.” Moreover, the prime minister issued instructions for the formation of a special committee to follow up on the completion of hospitals on the specified time limits not exceeding one year for many of them.
It is worth mentioning that Iraqi health institutions offer through their primary care centers and secondary hospitals therapeutic services for citizens almost free of charge.
During a Council of Ministers meeting on May 22 held in the middle of last week and broadcasted by a quasi-governmental channel in Iraq, Maliki said that “if large hospitals had been completed according to plan in Iraq, we would not have needed to construct new ones or send our patients abroad.” Maliki added, “I am personally interested in this subject and will follow up with the Ministry of Health in order to remedy any shortcomings in this respect.”
Maliki, talking about his country’s next five-year development plan, said that the previous five-year plan realized a number of achievements, including the reduction of the unemployment rate from 15% in 2008 to 11% in 2011, and the reduction of the poverty rate from 23% in 2007 to 18% in 2012. He elaborated that “these achievements reflected on life expectancy in Iraq, which increased from 58 years in 2007 to around 69 years in 2011,” noting that life expectancy can only be calculated in countries that provide medical treatment and other services.
Omar al-Shaher is a contributor to Al-Monitor’s Iraq Pulse. His writing has appeared in a wide range of publications including France’s LeMonde, the Iraqi Alesbuyia magazine, Egypt’s Al-Ahaly and the Elaph website. He previously worked for Al-Mada covering political and security affairs and as a correspondent for the Kuwaiti Awan newspaper in Baghdad.
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