Iraq health minister says Baghdad not responsible for KRG health costs

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s health minister on Friday said that under the federal budget, their obligation to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is limited to providing medications and does not extend to other expenses.

“Our relation with the Region’s health ministry is only related to cost of governance, which only includes medicine,” Health Minister Salih al-Hasnawi told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. 

Hasnawi said that other expenses such as purchasing medical devices, covering administration costs, and building new hospitals were the duty of the KRG’s health ministry since it has its own independent budget. 

The Iraqi parliament in June passed a three-year highly-contentious budget, of which the Kurdistan Region’s share is 12.6 percent. It has not, however, resolved long-standing financial disputes between the federal and regional governments. 

Erbil has accused Baghdad of not sending required funds to pay public sector salaries. The two governments worked out a loan deal and the KRG on Sunday announced that the first 700 billion dinar payment will be used to pay July salaries. The Region's civil servants have not been paid for July and August. 

Economic woes in the Kurdistan Region have worsened in recent months after Turkey suspended the flow of Kurdish crude oil to its Ceyhan port in March following a ruling from a Paris arbitration court, causing the KRG billions of dollars in losses.

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