"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [ظ‎‎٢‎٦‎٦] (٨٦٢/٥٣٥)

CHAPTER IX
PUBLIC HEALTH AND DISEASE
S ince 1918 great progress has been made in the provision of medical
facilities, and much knowledge has accumulated regarding the
most prevalent diseases. Measures taken for the control of some of
the most important infectious diseases have achieved noteworthy
success. Without vital statistics, however, no exact appraisement of
the public health of the country is possible. Births are recorded only
in the large towns, and there inadequately. The causes of death in
towns are still often decided by subordinate health officials and in
rural areas they are frequently not determined at all. Populations and
migration figures are not accurately known. Ages as given by the
people are unreliable. Nevertheless hospital and dispensary returns,
which are published in detail, afford much information concerning
public health in Iraq.
Public Health
Administration. The Director-General of Health is attached to the
Ministry of the Interior. Under him is an Iraqi Inspector-General of
Health Services, and there is a British public health adviser. The
health departments of Baghdad city and of Basra port are directly
under the Central Health Department. In each province a senior
medical officer receives from the doctors of qadhas and nahiyas
monthly reports dealing with diseases and other health matters, from
which he prepares a monthly report for the whole province, for sub
mission to the Central Health Department. He is also responsible for
the administration of hospitals, dispensaries, and other medical insti
tutions in his province and for measures to control the spread of
communicable diseases.
Personnel. In 1935 there were only 273 doctors in Iraq, of whom
168 were in the Government Civil Health Service, 28 in the Iraqi
Army, and only 77 devoting their whole time to private practice. Of
the latter, 65 resided in the chief towns: Baghdad (40), Basra (10),
Mosul (10), Amara (3), and Hilla (2); but most of the official doctors
also take some private practice. Nine out of ten patients who receive
modern treatment get it in government institutions. But there is a real
shortage of qualified medical practitioners. Allowing 1 for every 3,000
of the population, Iraq needs at least 1,300 doctors, and efforts are
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