British Institute: Armed parties and groups control the drug file in Iraq

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[size=52]British Institute: Armed parties and groups control the drug file in Iraq[/size]

[size=45]Translated by: Hamed Ahmed[/size]
[size=45]A report prepared by the British Institute (Gatham House) for studies dealt with rampant corruption in the health care system in Iraq, highlighting the method of supplying medicines and the multiple stages that they go through from entering the borders before they reach the pharmacy.[/size]
[size=45]And then to the consumer, which includes a network of multiple beneficiaries that includes political parties, armed groups, and official health institutions, stressing that only 30% of the medicines are suitable for consumption and of known origin, and they are expensive, while the others available are either counterfeit or expired, causing health damage. patients and many of them died.[/size]
[size=45]The report, which was translated by Al-Mada, stated that “Sarah, a mother from the city of Baghdad, struggles to provide health care for her son Ahmed, who suffers from hemophilia, and spends most of her time searching for the medicine she needs for her son, but to no avail.” He pointed out, "The failure of the city's pharmacies to provide medicine revealed to the mother, Sarah, the extent of corruption in the patchwork public and private health care system in Iraq after 2003." The report stresses that “the medicine Ahmed needs is supposed to be available in government hospitals, but it is sold to the private sector for profits as part of a corruption system that has collected billions of dollars for the benefit of political elites and armed groups at the expense of lives like the child Ahmed and many others from his condition.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "The privatization of the supply of medicines to Iraq has led to the proliferation of counterfeit and expired medicines, which provide huge profit margins for these elites."[/size]
[size=45]The report noted, "Even when Sarah found the medicine, she says it is not fit for consumption. Doctors and pharmacists have replaced her son's medicine with another from another company that is less expensive, but there are fears that this new medicine leads to other serious illnesses." He explained, "Sarah eventually discovered that the medicine she bought from a private pharmacy was fake." And the report stated, "Sarah's story is one among many such stories." And he went on to say that among “the total number of medicines that reach people, only 30% of them are considered suitable for consumption, while the rest is likely to be counterfeit or expired.” The report emphasized that “some of the medicines have expired even before they reach the pharmacy, and this means that most of the available medicines are in the best cases ineffective and in the worst cases dangerous to health.” He quotes a former health minister as saying, “The chain of the network of influential parties responsible for supplying these drugs makes profits between 5 to 7 billion dollars annually.”[/size]
[size=45]The report finds, "The difficulty of Iraqi citizens obtaining the medicines they need not only endangers their lives, but also undermines their confidence in the health authorities, and during the Corona pandemic, the consequences of this deadly system have been imposed on the lives of many people." And he talks about “the stages of the drug’s arrival since its arrival at the port in Basra, and then it travels a distance of 530 km to reach Baghdad.” The report emphasized that “the chain of stages includes several continuous circles consisting of doctors, pharmacists, political parties, armed groups and businessmen, and the process begins at first from behind the borders of Iraq and causes the death of hundreds of people annually.”[/size]
[size=45]And he stated, “The first stage requires the registration of a foreign company from which the medicine is imported, which is a lengthy, routine bureaucratic process that is interspersed with bribes that benefit corrupt political parties.” He added, "The second stage requires the approvals of the Ministry of Health and its representative at the border crossing, and this stage includes the registration of the company with Kimadia, the public company for marketing medicines and medical equipment affiliated with the Ministry of Health."[/size]
[size=45]And the report added, “Like the rest of the state institutions, this company includes employees affiliated with influential political parties, and it is the one that gives permission to enter medicines from land, air, or sea, and in order to speed up the process of entering medicines and avoid any obstruction to it, bribery is the way to do that.”[/size]
[size=45]And he continues, “The money earned from bribes often goes to political parties and armed groups within the political system ruling the country, and the process includes approval of official and unofficial shipments of medicines entering the port in Iraq.” The report quotes officials at the Ministry of Finance as saying, “Iraq loses annually 10 billion dollars, or the equivalent of 5% annually, of GDP, because the amounts of border customs fees go into the pockets of political parties instead of going into the state treasury.” And he stated, "The supply of medicines from the border is mainly facilitated by employees of the Ministry of Health, and other employees from the ministries of transport, interior, finance, planning, and security agencies, as well as from the border authority, also participate in this process."[/size]
[size=45]And he pointed out, “A section of senior employees in each institution is involved in brokering contracts and licenses on behalf of their parties, and these deals may include the supply of medicines from an unregistered company or the import of a type of medicine that is not licensed by the Ministry of Health.” And the report continued, "When the truck arrives loaded with medicines to the borders of the capital, Baghdad, it is required to pay a fee to a person at the checkpoint who is related to armed groups."[/size]
[size=45]He stated, "These groups may include members of the security forces affiliated to the Ministries of Interior and Defense, and disputes may sometimes arise between these groups over the division of bribery amounts."[/size]
[size=45]And the report continues, “Dividing the contents of the large truck into small trucks heading to the stores and pharmacies in the city requires each small truck to pay a fee between 500 to 1000 dollars to allow it to pass.” The report pointed out that “patients have no choice but to buy the medicine recommended by the doctor, who directs the patient to the pharmacy from which he buys this medicine.”[/size]
[size=45]He continued, "Both the doctor and the pharmacist know the source of this medicine and the symbol on it, which is fake or expired, but its expiration date is forged."[/size]
[size=45]The report noted that "the poor Iraqis are forced to resort to cheaper medicine, even though they know that it is of poor quality."[/size]
[size=45]And he stated, “These doctors and pharmacists are not parties to political parties, but they are part of a wide chain of brokers and parties, and they may know that the medicines dispensed are fake or expired.”[/size]
[size=45]The report stated, "In return, they receive incentives and gifts ranging from cash or recreation tickets to doctors and their families outside the country." And he continues, “Doctors and pharmacists who issue prescriptions for counterfeit or expired medicines only put patients like the case of Ibn Sarah, the child Ahmed, at risk.”[/size]
[size=45]And the report went on, regarding the random inspections that are conducted on incoming shipments of medicines, that “from May to June 2021, 2,714 shipments of medicine were seized, while in 2020 50 tons of unfit for consumption medicines were confiscated.”[/size]
[size=45]About: (Gatham House) Institute for Studies[/size]
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