“A sober person misses the aspiration of a sick person.” “This is a breeding ground for zombies, not a hospital.” This is just the tip of the iceberg of comments that emerged during the past hours, following the spread of a video of a hospital in Basra.
After an Iraqi citizen filmed his visit to Al-Fayhaa Teaching Hospital in Basra, in the south of the country, the clip spread widely on social media, sparking criticism of the authorities’ continued neglect of health facilities in the country despite the large budgets allocated to this sector for years.
Many Iraqis considered that this scene should not be present in the twenty-first century.
Others saw it as a manifestation of rampant corruption.
Tragedies repeat
A similar scene was repeated last year with Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani when he examined Kadhimiya in the capital, after he was shocked by videos of this facility that spread on social media, promising to seek to improve health services in the country and the reality of the health sector in general.
However, much has not changed since then. During the past months and weeks, the issue has returned to the fore, with Iraqis sharing several terrible video clips from various hospitals in the country, whether in Baghdad or abroad, showing the dire condition of a number of these health facilities.
It is noteworthy that the health sector in Iraq suffers from several problems, which were exacerbated by the Corona pandemic, in addition to the lack of development in many regions, due to years of war and corruption as well.
The deep-rooted corruption crisis in many official institutions has also exacerbated the problem of the deterioration of the health sector in a country rich in oil, yet a third of its population is below the poverty line.
From a hospital in Iraq (archive – France Press)
The deterioration of the health system began decades ago in the country, starting with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, when the blockade imposed on Iraq led to a shortage of medicines.
Also, many doctors and specialists left the country in the hope of finding a better life, as the penalties were harsh during the nineties, especially the Saddam Hussein regime’s reduction of the budget of the Ministry of Health.
But the situation deteriorated more and more after 2003. The new political system did not improve the reality of the health system, and bribery, nepotism, and theft became widespread, according to a previous report by the Washington Institute.
Corruption played a major role in this continuous collapse of infrastructure, as Iraq is one of the most corrupt countries, according to Transparency International, and this naturally affected the health system.
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2023-04-24 03:42:00
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