Translation of article published in Al Sabah, 13th of October 2012:
Iraqi – Swedish cooperation in the Health Care Field
Iraq and Sweden are seeking for a close cooperation between the two countries with the aim of developing and improving the health care system in Iraq. The collaboration will focus on latest medical industry and health care policies. Sweden being one of the developed countries in the field of health care on one side and Iraq suffering isolation in this aspect in a time when the world achieve great strides in the field of medicine.
Dr. Hassan Hadi Baqer, General Manager of the Public Health Service in the Ministry of Health in an exclusive interview for ‘’Al Sabah’’ in a meeting with Chief Executive Officer Christian Kinch, Bactiguard, in the Swedish capital Stockholm, this collaboration comes to complement several previous meetings that took place in Baghdad, between the visit of the Swedish Minister of Health to IRAQ and his meeting with the Minister of Health and a group of executive managers in the ministry to discuss the possibility of developing relations and joint cooperation in the development of the local health care system to meet the Swedish health and medical care standards. The latter being one of the most advanced health care systems in the world, a cost-efficient and advanced health care system.
Dr. Baker added that the delegation’s visit comes as part of a plan of action carried out by the ministry to complement the ongoing plans in multiple sectors aiming to reach a common vision, and in a preliminary step to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Swedish side. Within the goals come Medical Educational Programs, Training courses for Iraqi doctors and nurses in coordination with the Ministry of Higher Education and Swedish Universities to implement in IRAQ the Swedish Health Care Standards.
Dr. Baker pointed that talks of the Iraqi delegation, which came on the sidelines of the Swedish Iraqi Business and Investment Conference held in Stockholm last week, addressed twinning of health institutions such as hospitals and health centers between the two countries and the reform of the health system in Iraq to be similar to the applicable in Sweden, confirming the considering of the privacy as there are priority in this domain, eliminating nosocomial infections which are responsible for a large number of death and Bactiguard, is the only manufacturer of advanced Catheters (tube used to drain urine out of the bladder) in this particular field to provide and offer its product solutions and services to Iraqi medical staff resulting in an advanced health service to the citizen.
The meeting was attended, from the Iraqi side by Dr. Haidar Hashem Nasser, Director of the Central Public Health Laboratory and Ms. Kefah Esmael Director of Bactiguard program in Iraq.
Al Sabah, Stockholm, by Linda Adoor