ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - More than 60 patients and medical staff were evacuated from a private hospital in central Baghdad on Sunday after a fire broke out on its second floor, Iraq’s Civil Defense Directorate said, nearly four years after another blaze was reported at the same facility.
The fire broke out inside a room at al-Andalus Private Hospital on Saadoun Street, prompting Civil Defense teams to evacuate patients and staff while bringing the flames under control.
“More than 60 patients and medical staff were evacuated safely, with no injuries recorded,” the Civil Defense Directorate said in a statement on Sunday.
The incident comes amid efforts by Iraqi authorities to strengthen fire safety enforcement following a series of deadly blazes at hospitals and other public facilities, which have prompted investigations and exposed shortcomings in safety measures.
Al-Andalus Hospital previously experienced a fire in August 2022, when flames engulfed prefabricated structures made from highly flammable sandwich panels in its parking area. Civil Defense teams prevented the fire from spreading to the main hospital building, with no casualties reported.
The Civil Defense Directorate requested an investigation and the involvement of forensic exports to establish the cause of the 2022 blaze.
Hospital fires have caused heavy casualties in Iraq in recent years. In April 2021, a fire at Baghdad’s Ibn al-Khatib Hospital killed around 130 people, according to the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights.
A fact-finding investigation by the commission found that the blaze was triggered by an oxygen cylinder explosion in a crowded patient ward. It also identified serious fire safety shortcomings, including the absence of a sprinkler system and inadequate arrangements for fire extinguishers.
A 2022 audit by Iraq's Federal Board of Supreme Audit, covering 50 hospitals and healthcare facilities in Baghdad, identified widespread fire safety shortcomings. Of 30 facilities whose fire detection and alarm systems were examined in detail, 19 had nonfunctioning systems and seven had none. The audit also found that eight hospital buildings more than ten meters high lacked emergency staircases.
The audit further found that 68 percent of hospitals examined continued to use highly flammable sandwich-panel structures despite Civil Defense warnings, while 70 percent had made structural additions without obtaining the directorate's approval. The board recommended installing effective fire detection and suppression systems, providing adequate emergency exits, and addressing the use of flammable construction materials.
In January 2024, a fire at Diwaniyah Maternity and Children Teaching Hospital killed at least four children, according to the Iraqi Red Crescent Society. Authorities launched an investigation, but the cause was not immediately established.
Authorities have since announced tighter enforcement. In July 2025, following a shopping mall fire in the city of Kut that killed 63 people, then-prime minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani ordered inspections of public and private facilities nationwide within 15 days, alongside measures to close noncompliant establishments, train staff and conduct emergency drills.
In May 2026, the Civil Defense Directorate told Rudaw that more than 11,000 establishments had been closed for violating safety regulations, while 1,885 had been referred to court and more than 6,000 fines issued.
More recently, in August, Iraq’s Health Ministry said officials had met with Civil Defense representatives responsible for hospitals under Baghdad’s Rusafa Health Directorate to discuss safety concerns identified during inspections and urgent measures to address them.
Iraq’s Civil Defense Directorate has said electrical faults are a major cause of fires across the country. Fires remain a persistent threat across Iraq, driven by aging infrastructure, overcrowded public spaces, weak electrical systems, and a widespread lack of basic fire safety measures.
Iraq’s Interior Ministry reported an 86 percent decline in fires compared with the same period last year, according to Major General Miqdad Miri, spokesperson for the federal interior ministry during a press conference in late September.
