Iraq Healthcare 101
Structure of the Healthcare
Primary health care is universally accessible to nationals and includes preventive and curative services. Secondary and tertiary healthcare is reserved for complex and advanced cases in internal medicine, orthopedics, ENT, ophthalmology, gynecology, pediatrics, and dermatology.
Healthcare services offered include health administration, outpatient care services, preventive and public health services, inpatient care services, and pharmaceuticals. Healthcare startups such as Metapharma, an e-pharmacy platform, are working towards providing the population with efficient and effective healthcare solutions.
According to the constitution, healthcare services are offered by both public and private sectors.
Public sector services are offered under the Ministry of Health
Private sector services are offered by Hospitals, General Practitioners (GPs), Pharmacists, and Dentists.
Financing Healthcare
In Iraq, there is no universal healthcare. Services are covered by the following options:
The Ministry of Health offers free healthcare through general government revenues in public hospitals and clinics.
Private means either through Out of Pocket Payments, Private Insurance Companies, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and Employer benefit plans
Donors, whom can either be individual or organizational donors
Investment Opportunities
Lucrative opportunities to invest in the Republic of Iraq’s healthcare space include but are not limited to:
Medical appliances and equipment
Pharmaceuticals
Hospital Management and training
Laboratory equipment and consumables
Start Ups & Technology
Healthcare startups such as Metapharma, an e-pharmacy platform, are on the frontier for providing healthcare solutions to the population more effectively.
Challenges
The health sector in Iraq faces challenges towards development. These challenges include but are not limited to:
Tackling the rise in communicable and non-communicable diseases
Failure to develop and retain healthcare personnel
Management of Pharmaceuticals to ensure price is not high and there are no shortages
Addressing the demographic problem in comparison to bed capacity and personnel available
The financial crisis due to recent Iraq's oil revenue, that made the government undercut investment to be made in healthcare
Solutions
Implementing wide screening tests will detect the diseases early in conjunction with campaigns to advocate for healthy lifestyles.
The government should bear costs to send their medical personnel to neighboring gulf nations to learn more about different treatments and therapies to more effectively treat their own communities upon return.
Drafting and maintaining an agreement with pharmaceutical manufacturers among its neighboring states will ensure import values are based on a currency peg. This in turn would reduce the costs of medication, as the imports will be cheap enough for Iraq to import in large quantities.
Establishing governance over the healthcare resources would allow for resources to be used effectively and efficiently.