Iraqi Health Ministry takes steps towards digitalization in cooperation with WHO

The health minister also praised the collaboration between Iraqi health officials and the WHO in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Iraqi Health Minister Hani Musa Al-Aqabi during a workshop attended by the WHO representatives in Iraq and the Middle East in Baghdad, March 6, 2022. (Photo: Iraqi Health Ministry)
Iraqi Health Minister Hani Musa Al-Aqabi during a workshop attended by the WHO representatives in Iraq and the Middle East in Baghdad, March 6, 2022. (Photo: Iraqi Health Ministry)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Health Ministry announced on Sunday that it is working on digitalizing its data to improve decision-making and the provision of services.

The remarks from the Iraqi Health Minister Hani Musa Al-Aqabi came during a workshop held in Baghdad with representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) in the country and the Eastern Mediterranean. The local and international health officials discussed preparedness for pandemics. 

Discussions about digitalizing the Iraqi Health Ministry's data are ongoing with the WHO. Digitalizing the ministry data will enable health officials to analyze and present critical information to top decision-makers in the parliament and government, al-Aqabi told the state-run Iraqi News Agency. 

The health minister also praised the collaboration between Iraqi health officials and the WHO in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The officials reviewed the Iraqi medical sector's preparedness for dealing with pandemics. 

Al-Aqabi said that his country had learned from the coronavirus pandemic as it had highlighted the public health system's strengths and weaknesses. 

Iraq's health sector is underdeveloped and unreliable because of decades of underinvestment, conflict, and rampant corruption. 

Medical tourism is a widespread phenomenon among well-to-do citizens in the country since trust in that sector is so low. 

In addition to the lack of hospital beds, COVID-19 patients suffered two major deadly infernos that killed more than 150 people on mechanical ventilators in 2021.