ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Foreign doctors practicing in the Kurdistan Region should have a good working knowledge of the Kurdish language, according to a new requirement added by the Kurdistan Medical Union (KMU) for the nearly 700 displaced physicians who work in Erbil.
The head of the KMU in Erbil told Rudaw that the decision was made after dozens of complaints by patients who have not been able to communicate properly with their doctors.
"We have launched courses in Kurdish language for the foreign doctors who usually only speak Arabic and are unable to speak Kurdish when receiving patients in Erbil," Dr. Shwan Qadir told Rudaw.
According to Qadir August 20 is the last day for the doctors to register for the Kurdish language course. They have been warned that medical licenses will be withdrawn if they fail this Kurdish language test.
"It is a requirement in any country to be able to communicate with the patient before receiving a license to practice medicine," Qadir said.
He assured these foreign doctors that all available means at the union will be at their disposal to learn Kurdish effectively and quickly.
Nearly 1,500 doctors have fled to the Kurdistan Region from war-torn parts of Iraq and Syria. Half of them currently work in Erbil, where the new requirement will apply before other cities.
According to the Iraqi migration authorities, around 1.8 million refugees have sought shelter in Kurdistan Region, most of them from Iraq’s central provinces.
Although Arabic and Kurdish are both official languages in the Kurdistan Region Arabic is less spoken in Kurdish cities where Kurdish is taught in schools and used in government offices.
