Sulaimani patients visit Iran, Erbil for treatments amid work strikes
SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region — An increasing number of medical patients from Sulaimani province have visited hospitals in Iran and Erbil for desperately needed medical care.
Local officials in Penjwen, a district of Sulaimani on the border with Iran, were aware of at least two recent stroke cases.
“We opened files for them and then sent them to Mariwan hospital for treatment,” Dr. Khalid Abdullah, the head of Penjwen Hospital explained to Rudaw.
Dr. Rekawt Hama Rasheed, the KRG health minister, met with heads of health directorates of Sulaimani and asked them to return to work. This led to, birth, emergency and some other public hospitals being re-opened but most physicians and health workers continue their strike.
Dr. Sardar Omar, the director of Qaladize Hospital, explained they are providing what they can, but are referring patients to other parts of the Kurdistan Region...
“Due to boycott, we are not aware of this. There was a patient whose condition was unstable and received first aid treatment and then was sent to Erbil hospitals,” Omar told Rudaw.
Some patients in Sulaimani have to visit private or Peshmerga health care facilities, where the costs are substantially higher than public centers.
Shorish (Revolution) hospitals were established only for treating Peshmerga and are affiliated with the ministry, but now are taking in civilians as well.
The head of Shorish, Dr. Chalak Qadir Qashani, told Rudaw that their hospitals have received 11,560 patients since the start of the healthcare workers’ strikes on March 25. The Sulaimani branch of the hospital received lion’s share — 8,000 patients so far. Before the strikes, the hospitals were treating about a quarter of that amount in the same time span.
The KRG is has been unable to provide statistics on the number of deaths because of non or delayed treatment during the strike period. Shorish hospitals have recorded 20 deaths.
A wave of mass protests has rocked the Kurdistan Region for nearly a month, as civil servants led by teachers and health workers demanded the abolition of the government’s unpopular austerity measures that have seen wages in the public sector slashed.
Civil servants, who have struggled for around two years under the austerity measures, have established councils and committees in their regions to pressure the KRG to meet their demands after Baghdad sent funds to Erbil for the salaries.
The KRG has promised to pay the salaries according to a new system announced last week that will significantly ease the cuts by up to 60 percent. State employees, especially teachers and health workers in the provinces of Sulaimani and Halabja, call the changes unsatisfactory.
Civil servants, who have struggled for around two years under the austerity measures, have established councils and committees in their regions to pressure the KRG to meet their demands after Baghdad sent funds to Erbil for the salaries.
The KRG has promised to pay the salaries according to a new system announced last week that will significantly ease the cuts by up to 60 percent. State employees, especially teachers and health workers in the provinces of Sulaimani and Halabja, call the changes unsatisfactory.
The KRG finance ministry approved distributing some incentive bonuses for transportation and overtime pay for health workers in late March.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has has said he is willing to pay the salaries of the KRG’s health and education ministries, after they were audited. The first payment from Baghdad, however, was distributed to all the ministries, and not just health and education, meaning the payments were still in line with the salary-saving system and not full wages.
The teachers say they will end their strike once the government commits to pay the salaries in full and every 30-day, and for the government to announce a mechanism to pay back the amount cut from their wages since 2016 under the salary-saving system.
The director of Sulaimani’s education directorate encouraged teachers to end their strike “for the sake of the blood of the martyrs.” Sulaimani’s teachers rejected to the suggestion, citing that the KRG’s recent deducation to the salary saving system was a “good step,” but more needs to be done.
The teachers announced they will strike in front of the Sulaimani courthouse on Tuesday morning.