New health center opened in Kawergosk camp by UNHCR and KRG

“The new Kawergosk Public PHCC will provide primary health care services to over 20,000 people.”

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2022/05/29 19:43

The UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the KRG’s General Directorate of Health (DoH) inaugurated the new health center on Tuesday (Photo: UNCHR)

Kurdistan KRG IDPs IDPs and refugees in Kurdistan Region UNHCR Kawergosk camp KRG General Directorate of Health Syrian refugees in Kurdistan Region

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR and the General Directorate of Health (DoH) of the Kurdistan Regional Government inaugurated the new Primary Health Care Centre (PHCC) in the Kawergosk subdistrict of the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil province earlier this week.

The health center was opened last Tuesday in Kawergosk camp near the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil.

The camp mainly hosts Syrian Kurdish refugees and displaced Iraqis.

“The new Kawergosk Public PHCC will provide primary health care services to over 20,000 people from the Syrian refugee and Iraqi displaced communities living in Kawergosk town and surrounding areas,” read the UNCHR press statement.

“As a result, UNHCR is contributing to give better access to quality health services to all without discrimination. The newly-established health care centre has the capacity to take 150 to 200 consultations per day.”

UNHCR also thanked the people and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), PricewaterhouseCoopers, and “all the stakeholders who participated in making this project a success.”

UN agencies earlier warned on May 17 that urgent additional funding is needed to continue assisting 72,000 vulnerable Syrian refugees living in the Kurdistan Region.

Iraq hosts almost 260,000 Syrian refugees, most of whom reside in the Kurdistan Region.

The Kurdistan Region hosts the largest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees in Iraq, the Quarterly Humanitarian Bulletin of the Kurdistan Regional Government in the US said in January.

The Iraqi government shut down all the IDP camps to force their populations to return to their areas.

However, the KRG has refused to close the camps and continues to assist IDPs and Syrian refugees residing on its soil in partnership with international aid groups.