Arab health ministers on Monday appealed to the international community to offer urgent medical assistance for the more than 2 million Iraqi refugees who fled their own war-torn country.
The ministers made the appeal at the end of a two-day conference here organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) to address the health crisis among the Iraqi refugees.
Some 25 percent of the Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan and Egypt suffer chronic diseases and need urgent medical assistances, they noted.
The conference, gathering health ministers from Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq as well as representatives from related UN organizations, assessed the medical needs of the Iraqi refugees.
It agreed to coordinate efforts of the host countries, relevant UN agencies, nongovernmental organizations and other donors to cover their medical needs.
The Syrian government provides free education and health care to the Iraqi refugees, but the magnitude of the influx has made hospitals and clinics too overcrowded to treat them, according to Syrian Health Minister Maher al-Hussami.
He said providing free medical care to the massive Iraqi refugees is costing the country around 60 million U.S. dollars a year.
He criticized the international community for failing to take responsibility for the burden while expressing disappointment that the United States had not provided greater financial support to countries in the region, particularly Syria and Jordan.
More than 1 million Iraqis were displaced internally while over 2 million had to flee to Syria, Jordan and other neighbors with an estimated 60,000 Iraqi fleeing the country monthly.
In Syria alone, the number of the Iraqi exodus has exceeded 1.5 million with an estimated 40,000 still coming per month.
Source: Xinhua
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