Shafaq News- Dhi Qar

Health inspectors in Iraq’s Dhi Qar province shut down 45 medical facilities on Thursday, including a private hospital where expired medicines were found, a Health Directorate source told Shafaq News.

The closures also included 25 medical laboratories, about half of them in the southern Suq Al-Shuyukh district, and 19 pharmacies for violating operating requirements.

Dhi Qar Provincial Council Health Committee chair Ahmed Al-Khafaji told Shafaq News that the council and its health committee were no longer in contact with the Health Directorate following disputes with its director general, Rashid Najm, leaving the committee unaware of the directorate’s decisions and limiting its ability to exercise oversight.

The dispute has escalated in recent weeks, with the Provincial Council recommending that the health minister remove Najm from his post.

Under Iraq’s decentralized administrative system, the Health Directorate can carry out day-to-day technical and executive decisions, while the Provincial Council exercises local oversight.