Sheikh Abdul Mehdi Al-Karbalaei
My brothers, my sisters…
I bring to your attention the following two matters:-
First Matter:
Reform of the government system in the country requires the adoption of the principle of efficiency, experience and integrity in employment of official jobs and statuses, instead of the dependency on partisan, sectarian and ethnic quotas. The fight against corruption, holding the corrupt accountable and reducing unnecessary expenditure (that are many and varied) are all righteous demands by the people and the basic indispensible matters to address the crisis and major problems faced by the country and is suffered by the Iraqi peoples; such as unemployment, poor services, the increase in the poverty rate and others. Due to increased pressures by the people in the past months, officials were offered a golden opportunity to respond by the reform process in which several decisions and procedures were published, for these purposes in several areas. Although most of these changes did not affect the essence of reform, yet they offered some new rays of hope on the road to achieving real changes that may drive the country toward its desired goals. From the outset, emphasis has been reiterated on the importance of such reforms to take place within the constitutional and legal frameworks, however, it must also be stressed here upon taking care of constitutional and legal requirements by the legislature power or other to circumvent the reform steps and avoid any procrastination in carrying them out and possibly exploiting the waning public pressure in these times. The achievement of the reform process is inevitable and essential, directly associated with whatever the three legislative, executive and judicial authorities take in real steps in this regard, with serious will and sincere desires for the terminology and elimination of corruption for the advancement of the country. The streamline and effectiveness of these steps are directly associated with the degree of harmony and cooperation between the three powers.
Second matter:
Recent incidents illustrate the increased rates of crimes against doctors in certain areas in threats, kidnappings, murders and financial blackmail. The continuation of this phenomenon without real and fast steps to deal with it will only lead to further defects in the health system, which already suffers from many problems, and hinders the performance of doctors in their humanitarian duties in treating illnesses or diseases in an efficient manner.
Some of the doctors may very well consider immigration to countries that provide secure and appropriate atmospheres in their domain. One of the reasons for the rise of this phenomenon is the weakness in the country’s legal body that is responsible for paving the ways for some to take advantage of its clout or use of tribal custom to attack others and financially blackmail them. There is an urgent need in the activation of security measures to protect medical personnel and rigidity in the application of law against aggressors, with the stern rejection by the wise men and members of noble Iraqi tribes of any abuse by some to tribal customs to threat or blackmail others. Media agencies are required to raise awareness and educating citizens, and demonstrating the big damages that result in the Iraqi health sector, should this phenomenon continue with no resolve. At the same time, we recommend to doctors – amongst whom a large segment exert much effort – who treat the sick by confronting several clear negative phenomena on the part of some workers in the health sector, by not providing the adequate level of care to the sick, and lack of sufficient care, which in turn exposes the lives of patients to danger and causes problems with their next of kin. We also remind our brother doctors who resort to immigrate outside of Iraq due to ill practice on their part that the country is in need of sacrifice, patience and perseverance during these hard times, and they ought to take from the heroes who fight on the battlefronts against Daish, a model and prime example in sacrifice and the love of our country and salvation so as to protect it and serve its sons..
Oh Allah, protect us against the tyranny and dominance of the oppressors and look upon us mercifully by guarding us from the vices, and rescue us from damnation and catastrophes of the eras, for Thou art Able on anything You wish.
