Cancer patients continue to face drug shortfall in Sulaimani. Photo: Rudaw
SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region - The struggle of cancer patients in Sulaimani linger as Hiwa Hospital continues to deal with medical shortages.
Hiwa Hospital, the largest cancer treatment center in the city of Sulaimani, has been struggling with severe shortages and heavy debt for well over two years. Most of the hospital's medical devices are broken and no money has been allocated for repairs, causing cancer patients heavily reliant on the hospital's support tremendous suffering.
Sangin Abdullah, from Koya, visits the hospital every three weeks to receive treatment. She bought her medicine from outside the hospital as they were no longer available there, costing her around $2,400.
The hospital provides free medicine to its patients. There is, however, a shortage of two specific drugs at the hospital, Pembrolizumab and Pertuzumab, and patients are unable to afford to buy them elsewhere. The prices range from $1,200 to $3,200 despite the poor quality.
“There are two types of medicines, one costs around three to four million [Iraqi] dinars, and the other is about nine million [Iraqi] dinars. What should a patient do if he buys this?” Sivar Rizgar, head of drug warehouse at Hiwa Hospital told Rudaw’s Peshawa Bakhtyar on Monday.
More than 15 new cancer cases are registered in Sulaimani daily and about 900 cancer patients visit Hiwa Hospital in a day, according to numbers from the health facility.
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