Kurdish Health Minister warns of straining medical demands of IDPs, Mosul

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The federal government of Iraq should help the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in supporting refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) currently residing in the Kurdistan Region, a Kurdish official said on Tuesday.

With a population of over seven million, the Kurdistan Region is home to 1.8 million refugees and IDPs who fled the Islamic State (IS) and its threats in Syria and other parts of Iraq.

“The pressure created by the weight of providing for IDPs and refugees in the Kurdistan Region is still there, and Baghdad should step up in helping the KRG in this regard,” Rekawt Hamarashid, the KRG Health Minister told reporters on Tuesday during the opening ceremony for a new medical center in Erbil.

“We lack blood supplies and IV fluids in the Kurdistan Region, yet we continue sending them to Mosul hospitals. We are facing a medical crisis due to the fight for Mosul and its IDPs,” he said.

He mentioned that public hospitals in the Kurdistan Region have not discriminated in their treatment of people from the Kurdistan Region and IDP patients.

“We have already informed foreign humanitarian organizations in the Kurdistan Region and the Iraqi Health Ministry that the KRG can no longer withstand the pressure and requires more medical supplies and humanitarian aid,” Hamarashid added.

In addition to IDP care, hospitals in the Kurdistan Region treated thousands of Iraqi soldiers during the ten months of the military operation to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State (IS).

Although Mosul was officially retaken on July 10, hospitals in Iraq's second largest city primarily relies on the KRG for medical supplies and other medical needs.

KRG officials have repeatedly denounced the federal government of Iraq for skirting its responsibility regarding Iraqi IDPs, especially those who moved to the Kurdistan Region.

Editing by G.H. Renaud