Cancer rates in Kirkuk have residents point to oil companies and air pollution

KIRKUK (Kurdistan 24) – In recent years, the number of cancer patients has drastically risen in the disputed province of Kirkuk, with activists blaming oil companies for polluting the air in urban areas with a complete disregard for the general population’s health.

Kirkuk is a disputed territory claimed by both the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government of Iraq.

The province has some of the oldest oilfields in the Middle East. Altogether, they currently produce almost half a million oil barrels per day.

Locals and activists have expressed their concerns about the impact the oilfields are having as a rising number of people are being diagnosed with cancer in Kirkuk, with doctors attributing the trend to worsening air pollution.

At the Kirkuk Center for Oncology and Hematology alone, as an example, staff registered 157 cancer patients in 2017. The number has now risen to over 1,500, according to the center’s data.

Suraiya Ali has recently been diagnosed with cancer and has already received 12 injections as treatment. Doctors told her the cancer was a result of the high levels of air pollution where she.

“It’s been almost five months since I came to get treatment at this center,” Ali told Kurdistan 24.

“The prices are very high. We can barely afford the necessary medication, and sometimes, there is none available in the market.”

Some of the longer-term patients staying at the center have become hopeless, while others are still optimistic about their future and finding a cute.

The center, which receives the lion’s share of cancer patients in Kirkuk, experiences a chronic lack of medication. The federal government of Iraq provides only 25 percent of resources; the rest, the center or the patient have to provide. 

Mariwan Mala Jabar, an activist in Kirkuk, stated a campaign has been launched to secure more medication for the patients, but also to push for more green spaces in the province.

“We have decided to talk to state-owned North Oil Company (NOC) in Kirkuk to create a green belt around Kirkuk city as you can barely see any green areas in the province. It’s the company’s responsibility to do that,” Mala Jabar told Kurdistan 24.

The number of illegal oil refineries has also considerably increased in the province since Iraqi forces and Shia militias took over Kirkuk and drove the Kurdish Peshmerga and security forces out of the area in fall 2017.

The people of Kirkuk, throughout history, have perpetually suffered from instability. There is a famous saying commonly expressed by its people which claims that since oil was discovered in the province, Kirkuk has experienced nothing but political instability and insecurity.

Now, residents and activists believe that as long as fumes and smoke from oil and gas refineries continue to cloud Kirkuk, the cancer issue will only worsen. 

Editing by Nadia Riva

(Reporting by Soran Kamaran)