Written question asked by Andrew Rosindell (Conservative) on Monday, 12 July 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 19 July 2004. It was answered by Hilary Benn (Labour) on Monday, 19 July 2004 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Dept for International Development

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many hospitals there are in Iraq; and at what capacity they are running. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many hospitals there are in Iraq; and at what capacity they are running. [184272] Hilary Benn: According to the May 2004 Iraq Humanitarian Assistance Report, there are 240 hospitals and 1,200 primary health care clinics employing over 100,000 health workers. There are no statistics available showing what capacity these hospitals are running at. Preliminary indicators that are available show a doctor to population ratio at five per 10,000, which is satisfactory, but a severe shortage of nurses with only an estimated total of 12,000 active in the health sector. There are many challenges facing the health sector in Iraq. DFID's main support to date has been to help ensure that the Ministry of Health can call on expertise to help them restore essential services. DFID has provided £5 million to the World Health Organisation to enable them to work with the Iraqis on these issues. Additional DFID support is being channelled through the multi-donor World Bank and United Nations trust funds, to which DFID has made an initial contribution of £70 million.

Secondary information