Pregnant women in Alqosh sub-district of the war-torn Nineveh province face significant difficulties during childbirth due to the closure of the maternity ward.
The maternity ward at the Alqosh Health Center has been closed for nearly a decade, despite the Iraqi federal government's National Strategy for Family Planning and Spacing for the period 2020-2025: a project represents a roadmap for improving maternal and child health, reducing mortality, and combating poverty.
Samira Younan, a Christian resident of Alqosh, recounted her family's suffering due to the closure of the maternity ward. "My sister was pregnant two years ago. She gave birth on the way while we were driving her to Duhok. This is the situation of most pregnant women due to the closure of maternity clinics in Alqosh."
Generally, pregnant women who want to give birth in a maternity ward must travel about an hour to a hospital outside the city, often in adjacent Dohuk Northern Province.
In 2016, an international organization provided all the necessary equipment for the maternity clinic at the Alqosh Health Center to provide services to pregnant women.
The organization also decided to pay the salaries of doctors and staff for six months. However, after that, the doctors and staff stopped working and were not supported by the government, so the clinic has been shut.
Iraq's healthcare system, once one of the most advanced in the region, is now in a serious crisis. There is a shortage of buildings, drugs, and medical staff to administer care. The country has faced challenges from wars, political instability, and the departure of many doctors seeking opportunities abroad.
The political chaos after 2003, pushed an estimated 15,000 out of 52,000 registered Iraqi doctors to leave the country, seeking training and life abroad rather than permanent state employment.
"The one thing that made everyone happy was the maternity clinic at the Alqosh Center. Instead of pregnant women having to travel to Dohuk, Tilkef, or Mosul, their babies were born in Alqosh," Younan added.
Alqosh Sub-district is located within the Tilkef District of Nineveh Province, 40 kilometers north of Mosul. The district consists of 42 villages and three communities, with a population of over 50,000, the majority of whom are Christians, along with other religious groups such as Muslims, Ezidis, Shabaks, and Kakais.
Samira said, "What we're wondering is how the government can't provide a doctor and one or two staff members for this hall, which has all the necessary supplies and equipment? We've requested its reopening dozens of times, but to no avail."
Raid Qaya Mansour, Mukhtar (representative) of Alqush, said previously, the opening of the maternity ward served the women of Alqosh and the surrounding villages well. “Closing the maternity ward poses a health risk to pregnant women and their babies, especially when they are transferred to other cities."
In 2019, the Iraqi government allocated just 2.5% of the state’s $106.5 billion budget to its health ministry, while security forces received 18% and the oil ministry 13.5%. The same was true for 2014.
Over the past decade, data from the World Health Organization WHO shows, Iraq’s central government has consistently spent far less per capita on healthcare than its much poorer neighbors - $161 per citizen each year on average, compared to Jordan’s $304 and Lebanon’s $649, a report by Reuters found.
Family Planning and Childbirth Strategy, as its principles emphasize, the state is primarily responsible for this, providing family planning services as part of the pregnancy health package according to international quality standards.
Family planning services are available in the general hospitals in Mosul, Batool (East Bank), Al-Salam and Al-Khansa (West Bank), and several other hospitals in Al-Ba'aj and Shingal (Sinjar) in Nineveh Governorate. However, Alqosh lacks one of the most important services: the maternity ward.
Dilshad Ali, the Director General of Nineveh Health, confirmed to KirkukNow their intention to reopen the maternity ward in Alqosh by providing the necessary doctors and staff.
"We are aware of the problem and have received the request for opening the ward."
