Iraq to privatize health sector

 

By Anwar Jumaa

 

Azzaman, 2004-10-10

 

The interim government has set up a committee to draw up a plan to allow private entrepreneurs both local and foreign to invest in the health sector, according to a senior health ministry official.

 

Health ministry's ombudsman, Hadi al-Riyahi, said the committee's task is to come up with suggestions and proposals on how to apply a much-criticized foreign investment law to boost private sector's contribution to boost heath services.

 

Wars and conflicts have disrupted health services in the country, put heavy burden on its medical staff and increased levels of disease.

 

Health problems of Iraqis have exacerbated due to environmental degradation and rising violence which has brought municipal services in certain areas to a stop.

 

Riyahi said the Health Ministry would abide by the terms legalizing foreign investment in the country.

 

He said under standing regulations Iraqi private doctors and medical specialists are allowed to open private hospitals and clinics.

 

"Foreign aid organizations and scientific bodies also have the right to start up a hospital under the supervision of an Iraqi medical doctor," he said.

 

Previously, Iraqi doctors were allowed to open private hospitals but continuing UN trade sanctions made the import of necessary medical equipment almost impossible.

 

The existing ones, number a dozen, are now reported to be better equipped and staffed than state-run hospitals but patients complain of high charges.

 

Cost of treatment at a private hospital in Baghdad is currently beyond the reach of most Iraqis.

 

However, Riyahi said the opening of more hospitals in the country should reduce costs in the long-run.

 

Health sector's most urgent problem is lack of security along with the breakdown of public services.

 

Scores of medical consultants are said to have left the country in the months since the downfall of former leader Saddam Hussein and at least 25 are said to have been killed.

 

The continuing violence is putting the most vulnerable in society – women, children and the elderly – at risk.

 

It is very difficult to measure what is exactly happening in the country regarding mortality rates for children and the spread of disease.

 

Neither the US-led troops nor the interim government have exact figures of how many people are killed or injured as a result of continuing violence.

 

Previously UN relief agencies released verifiable health data but these organizations have withdrawn from the country leaving behind a minimum presence of local staff making it very hard get reliable statistics.