Iraqi Health Ministry targets “negligence” in medicine supply

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s Health Minister Abdul Hussein Al-Mussawi on Tuesday ordered directors-general of health departments and hospital directors to be held responsible if investigations establish negligence in delivering medicines from state warehouses to healthcare facilities.

Al-Mussawi instructed ministry inspection committees to verify medicine stocks at health institutions and compare shortages in their pharmacies with supplies available at KIMADIA, Iraq’s State Company for Marketing Drugs and Medical Appliances.

The directive follows investigations ordered earlier this month into hospitals reporting shortages of medicines, including scorpion antivenom. According to the ministry, inspections found several medicines available at KIMADIA warehouses despite shortcomings and delays in supplying some healthcare facilities.

Read more: Iraq’s Pharmaceutical Crisis: shortages, counterfeit drugs, and reforms