First cancer hospital opens in Duhok
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The first cancer treatment hospital was opened in Duhok on Tuesday, aiming to give hope to patients who have been deprived of proper care due to lack of a specialized hospital.
Only 50 beds in a general hospital were dedicated for cancer patients without proper care. However, the newly-opened 160-bed Omed Oncology Hospital aims to resolve the issue.
Omed is the Kurdish word for hope.
'Today we officially opened a very important project and a strategic project in the city of Duhok, as we had promised in previous years,' Saman Barzanji, the Kurdistan Region Minister of Health, said during a presser in Duhok.
He also announced the continuation of several new similar projects in Duhok that had not existed before, emphasizing that they are expected to be completed by next year.
Cancer rate is on a sharp rise in the Kurdistan Region, with a diagnosis occurring every hour in the last year, according to data obtained by Rudaw late last year.
'This hospital is very important as the KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government] are looking for universal health coverage, and cancer is one of the non-communicable diseases which should be covered,' Jamela al-Rajaby, WHO representative in Iraq, said during the same press conference.
She further explained how the high quality of service is important for them to improve.
Rajaby emphasized the importance of the hospital by saying, 'We understand that this hospital will serve the population, including the internally displaced population and these are the mostly need, as the minister said, that those should also reach the people in the rural area.'
She also said that the WHO 'contributed in infrastructure, equipment, and readiness of the healthcare provider to continue this.' support.
She highlighted the WHO's readiness for further partnership.
In 2023, about 9,911 diagnosis cases were recorded across the Kurdistan Region, bringing the diagnosis rate to 27 cases per day or a diagnosis about every 53 minutes.
Among the most common types of cancer in the Region, breast cancer tops the charts.
Statistics show Erbil has the lion's share, with 55 percent of the recorded diagnoses, followed by Sulaimani at 33 percent and Duhok and Halabja province at 12 percent.
In Sulaimani province, Hiwa Hospital is the only facility offering cancer treatment, drawing patients from across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
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