96% of Kurdistan patients buy medications outside public hospitals

Shafaq News- Al-Sulaymaniyah

Only 4% of patients in Kurdistan Region obtain their medications through public health institutions, the Aran Organization for the Development of Civic Culture (AOCC) revealed at a press conference in Al-Sulaymaniyah, presenting its sixth annual health sector report.

Ninety-six percent of patients visiting both public and private facilities are compelled to purchase medications from the open market, which AOCC Director Hezhar Baban considered it as "a structural failure of chronic undersupply within government-run institutions."

The burden falls unevenly across patient groups. Sixty percent of cancer patients cannot access oncology medications through public channels and bear the cost of private treatment. Psychiatric patients face a similar reality, with most forced to source both medications and care outside state institutions.

The Kurdistan Region currently operates 45 private mental health centers receiving roughly 330,000 visits annually, though the report found most fall short of basic standards for specialized psychiatric care.

The Region's 79 private hospitals now perform approximately 102,000 surgeries per year, surpassing the output of government hospitals, a ratio the AOCC said conflicts with the principles of an equitable public health system. Of the roughly 10,000 nurses employed in private settings, 72% reported serious workplace violations.

The report also documented a pattern of medical outmigration, with large numbers of residents traveling outside the Kurdistan Region and Iraq each year for treatment and surgery, placing mounting financial pressure on families and pointing to what the organization characterized as systemic deficiencies in the regional health sector.