From the Heart of Kurdistan Region - Kurdish Globe

TheKurdishGlobe No. 370, Tuesday, October 02, 2012 8 TheKurdishGlobe No. 370, Tuesday, October 02, 2012 9Medicinestorageclosed inRaniyaSome 57 new healthcenters to openin KurdistanMedicine storage of Raniya town near Sulaimaniyah,Kurdistan’s second biggest city,has been shut down.A committee from Ministry of Health wentto Raniya to investigate the health conditionof the storage. Following the investigationthe committee decided to close it.A source from the committee who spokeanonymously said that the committee foundthat sanitary conditions of the medicine storagewas very bad, adding that it had manytechnical shortages such as lack of air conditioningdevices and the ground of the storagewas not ceramic as well as several otherinsanitary conditions.“There were many expired medicines insidethe storage. Because of this point wehave decided to close Raniya’s storage,” thesource said.In addition, the committee checked the cafeteriaof Raniya’s hospital too. The committeefound many bad-quality meats and foodsinside the cafeteria.“The committee has decided to shut downthe cafeteria for three days as well as theowner should pay an amount of money as apenalty in order not to repeat it,” the sourcesaid.The medicine storage is located insideRaniya’s General Hospital. There are almost9 hospital and health centers in Raniya. Allthe medical supplies of the health center andhospitals are provided by the storage.New health centersA contract between Kurdistan’s ministriesof Planning and Health and representativesof American Agency for International Developmenthas been signed in Erbil, capital ofKurdistan Region.“A contract which is worth 18 million dollarshas been signed between the KRG’sministries of health and planning and AmericanAgency for International Development,”said a senior advisor to minster of health.The advisor remarked that according tothe contract 57 new health centers should bebuilt in three years across Kurdistan Region.“This project is to improve and expand publicservice in health sector,” said the advisor,adding that the project worth 18 million dollars.Of which 9 million dollars will be providedby the KRG and the rest will be givenby the American international organization.It is worth mentioning that American Agencyfor International Development is a globalorganization. It has around 80 to 90 branchesacross the world. It is funded by AmericanCongress directly.By Salih WaladbagiFigures from Garmiyan Directorateof Health show thataround 1000 cases of differentkinds of cancer in Garmiyanand Khanaqin have been registeredin the past three years.According to the figuresmany of the cases so far registeredare breast, stomach,prostate and blood cancer.Those cases which are recordedin Garmiyan hospitalsso far are inhabitants ofKalar, Khanaqin and severalother towns. After registrationprocess, all the patients havebeen sent to Hiwa hospital inSulaimaniyah province in orderto take treatment.Azmar Mohammed, formerhead of chronic diseases inthe directorate, announcedthat most of the registeredcases are classified underbreast cancer category.Concerning reasons behindbreast cancer, Dr. PaymanAhmed who is a sonar expertsays that diagnosing reasonswhy someone gets infectedwith breast cancer is notknown yet.She furthermore said thatsometimes those women whoare getting older and do notget married or those who donot breast feed their childrenare endangered to get the disease.“Breast cancer is mostlyamong young women ratherthan older ones,” she said.Recording thousands of casesof cancer in Garmiyan is avery shaking number if it willRecord high cancer casesin GarmiyanAround 1000 cases of cancer have been recordedbe compared with number ofinhabitants which is estimatedaround 300, 000.People are frustrated and saythat urgent research is neededin order to come up with findinga way to prevent this numberincreasing.Mohammed confirmed thatthe factors should be recognizedas soon as possible inorder to save lives of thousandsmore.Dr Adnan Tofiq said thatstatistics of cancer are veryrapidly increasing in the Regionand have hit a new recordhigh.Indeed, most of those whoare infected with cancer inGarmiyan are poor people.Besides, they should endurethe expected pain of the cancerwhile they have to takeeconomic condition of thefamily into consideration too.Tofiq said that there is acommittee in the directorateto give a hand to the patientsfinancially, adding that the directorategives each of them$1000 only once.Poor and low-income familieswho have one-cancercaseidentified at their homeusually visit governmentalinstitutions and ask for financialcooperation to treat theirdiseases.“Many people visit us on adaily basis and ask for financialhelp while it is not ourduty to give people money,”said Khabat Rashid, Garmiyan’sdirector of HumanRights.He remarked that there areseveral charity organizationsand institutions which havesome special programs to helppoor people.However, many medical expertsthink there is no a medicalresearch center to conducta survey and figure out howmany people have cancer andwhat are the main reasons behindcancer-cases.Fund for chronic diseasesIt is supposed that the KRGmake a financial assistancefund for chronic diseasessuch as cancer and long-termdiseases with the intention oftreating them inside Kurdistanor abroad.A member of Kurdistan parliamentsaid that two yearsago a group of MPs proposeda draft to Kurdistan ParliamentPresidency in order toallot a financial assistancefund to long-term diseasesand cancer.Legal committee of Kurdistanparliament met withadvisers and directors ofthe Ministry of Health withthe intention of discussing amechanism to fund long-termdiseases last week.“If parliament can finishForest Law this week thenMPs will talk about chronicassistance-funddraft. Duringthe discussions MPs have totalk about amount of the moneywhich is supposed to beindicated and the KRG has toallocate it later,” said the MPwho wanted to speak anonymously.According to the draft, acouncil will be formed so asto manage the financial assistancefund’s affairs.The draft consists of 15 divisionsand there is a divisionread that Ministry of Health isthe main party which will allocatemoney to treat the patientsin or out of Kurdistan.Based upon the draft, financialsources of the financialassistance fundinclude 9 divisions.“The KRG has to allocatefive percent of interests gainfrom customs. The ministryalso should allot some amountof money from its annual budgetto the financial assistancefund too,” read the draft.“Five percent of interestfrom importing goods likecigarette, alcohol, automobileand machines and 50 percentof fines from prohibitingsmoking in public placeswhich comes to annual budgetof the KRG,” read the draft.However the draft read that50 percent of fines gained byenvironment law and 50 percentof fines from health-carelaw should be allocated forthe financial assistance fund.Besides, 50 percent of penaltiesgained from punishingthose traders who bring in expiredfoods also has to be allocatedfor chronic diseases.A radiologist is examining X-Ray image of a patient with breast cancer at the Media Diagnostics Center in Erbil, September 9, 2009.By Salih WaladbagiGLOBE PHOTO/Safin HamidKRG and USAID embarkon joint $18 million dollarhealth initiativeThe Kurdistan RegionalGovernment signed amemorandum of understandingwith USAID lastTuesday aimed at improvingprimary health carethroughout the KurdistanRegion.The memorandum ofunderstanding with theUnited States Agency forInternational Development(USAID) representsan $18 million dollar initiativewhich will includethe construction of 57new health centers acrossthe Kurdistan Region.The cost of the initiativewill be split between bothUSAID and the KurdistanRegional Government(KRG).The agreement highlightsthe dedication ofboth sides to strengthenKurdistan's health careDuhok streets to be renovatedNine underpasses to be constructed in the cityDriving inside the streetsin Duhok, one would realizethat the condition ofthe streets and traffic arevery poor.Azad Taha, Director ofMedia at the Duhok TrafficPolice Directorate,claims that the city needsat least 12 underpasses anda number of highways.Mohammed Shafiq, adriver from Duhok saysthey have a lot of complaintsabout the streetsand traffic system.A view of a Duhok city center street.system by improving thedelivery of primary healthservices and ensuring theavailability of high-qualitycare throughout theRegion.The USAID PrimaryHealth Care Project inIraq works in partnershipwith the Iraqi Ministry ofHealth to strengthen thedelivery of primary healthservices in all of Iraq’s18 provinces. The projecthas $74.8 million US dollarsfunding and has beenin operation since March2011.The main goals of theproject are to help themedical community tofurther develop formalguidelines and records,improve standards of careand clinical service, andfoster community partnershipsand participation.“The streets are notmade for this heave trafficand without underpassesand overpasses this issuecannot be solved,” saidShafiq. “Unfortunatelythe streets get worse andworse every day.”Taha explained to theKurdish Globe that majorityof the streets in the cityare very narrow and thenumber and capacity ofthe parking lots in downtownare too low. Hencepeople park their cars onThe MOU was signedby the KRG Minister ofPlanning, Dr Ali Sindi,the KRG Minister ofHealth, Dr Rekawt HamaRasheed, and the USAIDMission Director, MrThomas Staal.Prior to the signing of thememorandum, the delegationfrom USAID alongwith a representative of theUS Consul General visitedPrime Minister NechirvanBarzani to brief him ontheir efforts and discussthe project. The PrimeMinister welcomed theinitiative and confirmedthe KRG’s interest in thisand other co-sharing objectives,especially in areassuch as this which areamong the government’stop priorities.the streets and ineviatablyworsen the traffic situation.Shawkat Mohammed,head of Duhok’s Municipality,on the other handsays, due to the fact thatthe streets in Duhok arenot in line with the expansionof the city, theyhave planned to build 9underpasses on the majorstreets, 5 of which have alreadybeen tendered and 4of them are to be tenderedin the near future.PRESS PHOTOCutting trees is prohibitedand livestock not allowedinto forestsA young boy is transporting newly cut trees home on the back of his donkey in a village nearZakho, near the Turkish-Kurdish borders.As Kurdistan RegionalGovernment has submitteda draft law forprotecting natural forestsin the region, theopposition parliamentmembers argue that thislaw is not necessary forthe country.The draft is aiming atprotecting the naturalforests in Kurdistan,renovating and developingthem.Zhiyan Omar, memberof the Kurdistan Parliamentand member of theagriculture and irrigationat the parliament,says that they have receivedthe draft from thegovernment and that themajority of the parliamentmembers supportthe idea of changingthe draft into a “ForestLaw.”MP Omar thinks thatKurdistan needs a lotof forests for protectingthe environment, cleaningthe air as well as industry.It has been also suggestedthat in additionto the relevant governmentinstitutions thepresidency should alsoparticipate in punishingthe violators for a higherenforceability.Parliament MemberHawraz Sheikh Ahmed,who is a member of thehealth committee onthe Islamic Union Blocargues that the draft isexactly the same as theLaw number 3 of 2009of the Iraqi Parliament,and hence it is not necessaryfor Kurdistan tohave such a law and totake the time of the parliamentwith this unnecessarything.MP Omar, on the otherhand, argues that thisopinion is merely forthe purpose of opposingthe majority, otherwisethe other parts of Iraqdo not have forests.While most of the articlesof the draft lawhave been discussed insidethe parliament hall,the opposition blocsargue that the responsibilityof enforcing thelaw should be assignedto the parliament ratherthan the Presidency, asstated in the draft.MP Omar, however,told the Globe that Parliamentis not an executivebody and cannotenforce the law as thePresidency can.The draft also prohibitshunting any kinds ofanimals and also statesthat animal farmersshould not use forestsfor feeding their livestock,especially goats.PeshawaTofiq, a memberof the parliament onthe opposition GorranBloc told the KurdishGlobe that in Kurdistanwhere there are a lot ofplanted trees and forests,there should be alaw to protect them.“If the law is enforcedas it is, it would definitelyhave an impact onprotecting the forests inthe region,” argued MPTofiq.GLOBE PHOTO/Safin Hamid