IRAQ: Doctors' salaries set to improve

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

BAGHDAD, 29 Jun 2005 (IRIN) - The Iraqi Ministry of Health (MoH) announced this week that they are going to respond to a request from doctors to increase their salaries.

"Doctors in Iraq are still receiving insufficient salaries and their work should be respected. We expect that in the coming month their salaries will be raised according to their positions," Jalil al-Shummary, deputy ministry of health, said.

Under Saddam Hussein's regime, doctors in Iraq received less than US $ 20 per month. After the war that ousted him in 2003, salary increases of up to $ 200 per month were awarded to doctors. The health ministry now hopes to offer further increments of up to 200 percent.

Critics of the payment system argue that medical fees paid by patients are too low in Iraq. Private clinics in the capital charge less than $ 5 per consultation, whereas in neighbouring Jordan doctors charge as much as $100 for a similar appointment.

"Everywhere in the world doctors are one of the most respected and recognised professions with the best salaries but here in Iraq we receive about as much as a hospital cleaner," Dr Salam al-Kubaissy, a clinician at Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad, said.

Huge numbers of qualified and experienced doctors have already left Iraq following the war in 2003 because of insecurity and poor employment opportunities in the country. The exodus has had a devastating effect on the country's health system.

Chilling statistics from the MoH show that nearly 170 doctors have been assassinated or kidnapped over the past two years, either by insurgents or by criminals attempting to obtain ransoms for the release of their captives.

It is hoped that the increase in salaries may tempt many doctors who have left the country to return.

"We wish that as soon as we get the final approval, many doctors will start to return to the country looking for better opportunities here," al-Shummary added.

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) was less certain where the money for the salary increases would come from.

"We understand the need for salary increases but we also have a deteriorating financial situation in the country," explained Ali Serdawi, a senior MoF official.

News of the coming salary increase was, perhaps not surprisingly, welcomed by local doctors.

"We want to serve the population, now we feel much happier about that if this salary improvement happens, then the future is good once again," Dr. Hadeel Fakiri, a paediatrician in a government hospital in the capital, said.

[ENDS]