Kirkuk hospital completed three years ago remains closed over unpaid transformer cost

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A hospital in Kirkuk's Leylan district has sat unused for nearly three years because a transformer needed to connect it to the power grid has not been funded, a local official said. Ahmed Fatih, head of the Kirkuk Provincial Council's Services Committee, said the Health Directorate paid the Ministry of Electricity more than 100 million dinars to address the issue, but the ministry is asking the hospital to cover the 6 million dinar cost of the transformer itself. Without it, the facility cannot be energized and opened to patients. Fatih said he has tried to reach Mohammed Hamid, head of the North Electricity Distribution Company's Hawija branch, and General Director Zeydan Halef to resolve the matter, but has received no response. He urged the general director to intervene immediately so the hospital can begin operating. The Leylan district contains numerous villages whose residents have gone without a hospital, emergency department or health clinic for three years, Fatih said. He described the delay in opening the completed facility over a 6 million dinar cost as unacceptable.