Patients in need of treatment abroad demand Abadi open Kurdistan airports
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Patients who are in critical need of medicine and treatment abroad on Thursday demanded the Iraqi government lift a flight ban on airports in the Kurdistan Region.
Dozens of patients, including children, protested and raised banners outside the United Nations mission in Erbil to condemn Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi for the ongoing international flight ban on airports in Erbil and Sulaimani Province.
The protestors held banners written in Kurdish and Arabic demanding international intervention to resolve their plight.
The demonstrators included patients and the family members of patients, many of whom receive treatment abroad but have been stranded since the flight ban.
Due to the embargo, which was imposed days after a historic independence referendum last September, patients are forced to go to Baghdad’s airport or travel to Turkey by land just to receive appropriate treatment for their illnesses.
“Lift the ban on airports, we need treatment outside of the country,” one of the banners read in Arabic.
“Where is humanity? Where are human rights and the UN?” One demonstrator told Kurdistan 24.
“Is it humane to cut medicine from patients while all of this is happening in Kurdistan under the eyes of the world and no one has pressured the Iraqi government to stop?” They added.
Some of the people who attended the demonstration raised banners accusing Abadi of “killing” the sick.
Patients affected by the embargo have often warned that delaying the delivery of medicine would result in a risk to their lives and have repeatedly called on the international community to put pressure on Baghdad.
The Ministry of Health in Kurdistan has previously highlighted the Iraqi government’s inadequacy to allocate the proper amount of medicine and medical supplies to the Kurdistan Region.
Earlier in the week, wounded Peshmerga fighters also demonstrated in front of the UN compound in Erbil, complaining of medicine shortages and economic hardship caused by embargos imposed on Kurdistan by Baghdad.
