Al-Rummana District: want and deprivation..with only one person in charge

Shafaq News/ Until two years ago, al-Rummana, 300 km west of Ramadi-the capital city of al-Anbar governorate, was a sub-district of al-Qaim, a border district with Syria. However, despite announcing it as a district, it still lacks the most basic services that distinguish it as an administrative unit.

Shafaq News Agency explored the poor living conditions the people are plunged into in al-Rummana. Poor neighborhoods crammed with shacks built with bricks, scrap metal, and wood, often littered, and without access to running water, are a common feature of the urban landscape of the district.

Al-Rummana district's administrator, Khaled al-Muhanna said that most government or service departments in the district have not yet been opened despite contacting all ministries and relevant authorities.

"There is no court, no police, no civil defense, no healthcare, not even a hospital or an electricity sector. The entire district stands upon a single municipality. There is hope that it will be reinvigorated into a directorate in the next few days," al-Muhanna continued, "we used to have a directorate of Civil Statues, but it was closed because there was no building that conforms to the Ministry of Interior's specifications. It was merged with al-Qaim district, but work is underway to reopen it soon. Moreover, there is no building for the Directorate of Education in al-Rummana. Although we were able to provide a place, we are waiting for the approval of the Minister of Education's office."

Al-Muhanna called on the federal government to "expedite opening departments in the district; particularly the municipal, educational, and health departments."

The district's chief said that the majority of departments await the Ministry of Finance's approvals to allocate the salaries of employees, managers, and others.

Health sector

"There are nine healthcare centers in the district. A healthcare sector can only be established if another healthcare facility is opened because of the controls of the Ministry of Health," al-Rummana district's administrator stated, "the district is in dire need for a hospital. However, it takes time to prepare the designs and allocate a budget; again, a budget cannot be drawn up for only one project."

"The healthcare facilities in al-Rummana suffer from a severe shortage of specialized medical personnel. We contacted al-Anbar Healthcare Directorate to open an emergency department, a pharmacy, a clinic, medical supplies, and laboratories, to provide the needs of thousands of patients who visit al-Qaim hospital, travel to al-Fallujah, Ramadi, or outside the governorate."

According to al-Muhanna, there are 20 critical cancer cases in the district, in addition to cases of disabilities and children who need retinal and corneal surgeries, "despite my appeal to health and humanitarian organizations, nothing has materialized yet."

Economic sector

"The majority of the city's population, more than 50,000, in addition to the urban areas annexed to it, nearly 17,000, entirely depend on the agricultural sector. Although it is not sufficient anymore due to the near-total power outages and lack of water access in nearly 50,000 dunums of agricultural land."

"Al-Rummana district needs teams to spread awareness, guidance, and family education. I anticipate an illiterate generation in the future that might embrace a wrong lifestyle and pose a threat to the future, if it does not receive special attention and care. This includes all family members," he continued.

"The approval to expand the basic design of the district has been completed. We are only waiting for the sectoral design, which is in the late stage. After its completion, residential units will be distributed to different segments of residents," al-Muhanna said.

"Al-Rumman district lacks road networks and many other municipal services. We need to revive the district through regional development projects and the Reconstruction Fund for the affected areas, as it needs special care and a budget away from allocations according to population density," he added.

The security aspect

"The security file in al-Rummana district is held bt the 30th Brigade of the 7th Army Division, the Emergency Regiment 24 of the al-Anbar Police Directorate, a local police station, the border guard brigade, and a few members of the al-Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF), and the security situation in the district is very good."

"We need key security facilities, such as FBF and facilities protection, in addition to strengthening the emergency regiment, so that we can deploy security points along the way to villages and rural areas 50 to 60 km from the district center," al-Muhanna concluded.