Negligence Lies with Managers: Health Minister Orders Inspection Committees to Monitor Drug Availability

Iraqi Health Minister Abdul‑Hussein Al‑Musawi on Tuesday directed the ministry's inspection committees to follow up with healthcare institutions and audit the actual stocks of medicines in pharmacies, and to compare missing items against what is held in the warehouses of the State Company for Marketing Drugs and Medical Supplies.

The ministry said in a statement seen by Al‑Wasat newspaper that Al‑Musawi also ordered that the director‑general of the Health Directorate and the hospital director be held fully responsible if negligence in the supply chain between the warehouses and healthcare institutions is proven.

It is noted that Al‑Musawi on Monday ordered the dismissal of the head of the pharmacy department at Al‑Amal National Hospital for Oncology and Nuclear Medicine, affiliated with the Baghdad Medical City Directorate, and tasked the general director of KIMADIA with being present tomorrow together with the department heads at the hospital, due to a shortage of medicines inside the hospital's pharmacy despite their availability in the ministry's warehouses. 

Last Wednesday, Health Minister Abdul‑Hussein Al‑Musawi ordered the formation of investigative committees in hospitals that recorded the unavailability of certain pharmaceutical items, including "scorpion antivenom," despite their availability in the warehouses of the State Company for Marketing Drugs and Medical Supplies, "KIMADIA."