Shafaq News/ Hassan Alwan al-Bahadli, a 42-year-old Iraqi man, was diagnosed with lung cancer and swiftly confronted a crushing reality: surgery and chemotherapy were his only hope, but the treatment would cost more than $35,000, an impossible sum for him to afford. Desperate, he turned to Iraq’s public healthcare system, only to find it overwhelmed. Bed shortages and long waiting lists left him with no immediate options.
After weeks of effort, he managed to secure an appointment at Baghdad’s Medical City Complex. But the news was bleak—the wait would be four months, a delay he feared could allow the cancer to spread beyond control. With no time to lose, Al-Bahadli turned to the private sector. To pay for treatment, he made a heart-breaking sacrifice: he sold his home.
Today, although he is undergoing chemotherapy and recovering from surgery, the financial and emotional toll has been immense. He reflected that he saved his life but lost everything else. There was no other choice.
Limited Access to Care
Al-Bahadli’s experience reflects a deeper crisis confronting cancer patients across Iraq, where access to timely and effective care remains out of reach for many. In another case, 55-year-old Saadoun Hleel, diagnosed with lung cancer, spent two months at Al-Kadhimiyah Hospital in Baghdad. Throughout his stay, he was seen by an oncologist only once a week, as the hospital lacked permanent oncology staff and instead depended on visiting specialists from the Medical City. When those visits overlapped with public holidays, patients like Hleel were left waiting yet another week for medical attention.
According to his wife, Samia Abdul-Hussein, Hleel’s condition deteriorated rapidly. He was administered only sedatives, with no active treatment offered. Eventually, doctors discharged him, declaring surgery no longer possible. He died at home less than a month later. Abdul-Hussein blamed her husband’s untimely death on both government negligence and the family’s inability to afford private treatment.
Cases like Hleel’s are far from isolated. Iraq is home to more than 200,000 cancer patients, many of whom endure long delays, inadequate care, and treatment costs that remain out of reach. In 2022 alone, the country registered 39,068 new cancer diagnoses. The Ministry of Health anticipates a 5–7% annual increase, underscoring the urgency of systemic reform.
Breast, lung, colorectal, leukemia, and thyroid cancers remain the most frequently diagnosed.
One of the most critical challenges lies in the country’s limited access to oncology services. As of 2023, just 25% of Iraq’s public hospitals had specialized oncology departments. This leaves a substantial segment of the population without consistent access to essential care. A report by Shafaq News underscored the impact of this disparity, citing a widespread shortage of chemotherapy infusion pumps and radiation therapy machines. Without these fundamental tools, even hospitals with oncology wards struggle to provide effective treatment.
This lack of infrastructure is compounded by a shortage of trained personnel. In hospitals that rely on part-time specialists or rotating consultants, the continuity of care is often disrupted. For patients battling aggressive forms of cancer, every delay can prove fatal.
The Geography of Grief
While major Iraqi cities like Baghdad offer specialized cancer treatment centers, patients in rural provinces face a far more difficult reality. In regions such as Al-Muthanna and Dhi Qar, access to even basic oncology services remains severely limited, forcing many to travel hundreds of kilometers for care that should be available closer to home.
In Al-Muthanna, for instance, there is just one functioning radiotherapy machine serving the entire province. Dhi Qar lacks a pediatric oncology department altogether, leaving families with sick children to seek care in distant cities. The situation is even more precarious in northern areas like Nineveh and Kirkuk, where years of conflict have left the healthcare infrastructure damaged or only partially restored.
For women and elderly patients, traveling for care is often an impossible journey. Some patients are forced to travel more than 300 kilometers just to reach a diagnostic center.
In remote parts of Nineveh, such trips can take an entire day. With limited public transportation options and virtually no government support for travel expenses, families often rely on personal savings or community fundraising to cover the cost.
The scarcity of services in rural areas is prompting a steady influx of patients to the capital and other urban centers. Dr. Reem Alwan, an oncology resident at the Medical City Complex in Baghdad, highlighted the growing burden on major hospitals. Patients come from across the country, from Kurdistan, Basra, al-Fallujah, because their hometowns simply lack the basic chemotherapy services they need.
Money vs. Need
Over 45% of Iraq’s annual health budget is dedicated to cancer treatment, a striking reflection of the crisis sweeping the country’s healthcare system. The funding covers chemotherapy, surgeries, and diagnostic tests such as PET scans, all provided free of charge. Still, demand has surged far beyond capacity, leaving hospitals struggling to keep up.
Nowhere is the pressure more visible than in Baghdad’s Medical City Complex, home to Amal Oncology Hospital, the National Bone Marrow Transplant Centre, and the Radiation Center. These facilities serve as key cancer hubs, yet they are increasingly overstretched. According to Wathiq al-Jabiri, a spokesperson for the complex, growing patient numbers have overwhelmed staff and resources, causing long delays in access to treatment.
In addition, only three public hospitals across Iraq offer PET scans, forcing patients to wait months for essential imaging. To organize this limited access, patients register online, with priority based on wait time. Amal Hospital recently added a new chemotherapy infusion ward and launched efforts to digitize its outdated paper record system, steps toward modernization, but still insufficient to meet nationwide demand.
The imbalance in budget allocation has further complicated the crisis. Dr. Saad Al-Saadi, a senior oncologist at the Medical City Complex, explained that the majority of funding goes toward medications, leaving under 15% for training staff or updating diagnostic tools. As a result, Baghdad hospitals report wait times of up to six months for MRI or PET scans, delays that jeopardize patients with fast-moving cancers.
Access to medication remains also deeply inconsistent. Essential drugs like paclitaxel, doxorubicin, and rituximab frequently disappear from pharmacy shelves. Paclitaxel, widely used in breast cancer treatment, is often unavailable, forcing patients to seek alternatives. Some families turned to the black market, where prices are inflated by up to 300%. Corruption and procurement delays only worsen the shortage. A nurse at the complex recalled that sometimes the medicine is out of stock for weeks, and patients either wait or buy it on the black market at three times the price.
These soaring costs have pushed many families into financial distress. A single vial of black-market chemotherapy can exceed $700, far beyond the means of most patients.
In a striking contrast to the domestic crisis, Iraq has exported its first shipment of domestically produced cancer medications to Libya, the Ministry of Health announced last week.
The Ministry’s spokesperson Saif Al-Badr confirmed that the drugs manufactured at the Iraqi Pharmaceutical Industries (IPI) factory comply with international standards and cover treatments for several types of cancer, including myeloid leukemia.
Small Victories, Big Battles
Despite the challenges, Iraq has made important strides in cancer care, with a notable rise in diagnostic and treatment capabilities. According to Dr. Ahmed Abdul-Qader, an oncologist at Amal Hospital, access to radiation therapy has expanded from a single center in Baghdad to more than 13 across the country, including new facilities in Karbala, Najaf, and al-Sulaymaniyah. This growth has improved regional access and reduced some of the burden on older institutions.
However, this expansion has not kept pace with rising demand. Amal Hospital, despite its advances, remains undersized. The Ministry of Health is now preparing to build a larger, complementary facility nearby. Many cancer centers are operating at 120% capacity, forcing patients to wait on benches or share rooms—an increasingly common situation as case numbers rise.
The shortage of trained personnel remains a critical barrier. While radiation centers have multiplied, many technicians are unfamiliar with advanced equipment, limiting their effectiveness. In major cities like Baghdad, where patient volume continues to grow, overstretched staff are struggling to maintain treatment schedules.
Progress has also been made in bone marrow transplantation. Since 2013, the unit at Medical City has performed over 400 autologous transplants. A major milestone came in 2022 with Iraq’s first successful allogeneic transplant using a compatible donor. Dr. Mazin Abbas, deputy director of the hematology center, confirmed that more than 30 donor-based procedures have been completed so far, all at no cost to patients.
However, the challenges remain. Critical medications and transplant materials are often in short supply, requiring assistance from foreign teams. Compatible donors are also rare; only 15% of patients find a local match, forcing many to seek international donors at a cost ranging from $30,000 to $50,000. These expenses are typically covered by families or charitable organizations.
Since 2011, over 2,000 patients have been evacuated abroad for transplants, mainly to Iran and India. Although these procedures are life-saving, the financial strain is significant for many Iraqi families.
