Funding shortfall deepens cancer drug shortage in Nineveh

Shafaq News- Mosul

A shortage of cancer medicines has disrupted treatment in Iraq's Nineveh province after import delays and a sharp drop in government funding, the province's health director said on Wednesday.

Dilshad Ali, director general of Nineveh's Health Directorate, told Shafaq News that recent border and airport closures had forced the state-run Kimadia drug procurement company to suspend contracts, delaying deliveries of essential medicines. He said the company had only recently resumed a limited number of shipments.

Ali said the more serious challenge was a lack of funding for biological and cancer medicines, which are purchased entirely through allocations from the Health Ministry.

"The latest monthly allocation for the oncology program was only 3 million Iraqi dinars (about $1,950)," he said, adding that the amount was insufficient to cover the cost of a single injection for the province's oncology hospital and affiliated facilities, including Al-Hayyan and Ibn Sina hospitals.

He said the Nineveh Health Directorate had repeatedly requested full monthly funding but had yet to receive it, leaving hundreds of patients without access to essential treatment.

Health authorities across Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, have reported recurring shortages of cancer medicines, forcing many patients to purchase treatment from private pharmacies at significantly higher prices. Internationally, 191 people per 100,000 are typically diagnosed with cancer.

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