Government issues new package focusing on health insurance and infrastructure

Prime Minister Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi chaired the Cabinet's twenty-second regular session on Tuesday evening, during which general conditions in the country were discussed alongside a series of service and economic decisions. Al-Zaidi opened the session by reviewing preparations for service projects, directing the prompt completion of sewage projects across governorates ahead of the winter season, as well as finalizing halted bridge and road works to mitigate expected traffic congestion with the start of the new academic year. Regarding strategic initiatives, Al-Zaidi instructed the immediate implementation of requirements to launch the development road project due to its major economic significance. In the health sector, the Cabinet approved allocating 20 billion dinars to the Ministry of Health from popular medical clinic funds to rehabilitate hospitals and health centers according to priority. It also authorized allocating an equal amount of 20 billion dinars from health insurance authority funds to upgrade medical institutions covered by the service in Baghdad and the governorates. The council voted to exempt Ibn Al-Bitar Specialized Hospital for Cardiac Surgery from contracting regulations for direct procurement of required medicines and supplies, alongside approving a component for medical equipment and expanding the Martyr Mohammed Baqir Al-Hakim hospital development project in Baghdad. In agriculture, the Cabinet approved the winter agricultural plan, setting the quantities of wheat to be government-received at four million tons across all governorates excluding the Kurdistan Region, adopting delivery pricing based on specified land areas. It also approved receiving fodder barley without subsidy while allowing export, subsidizing wheat seeds by seventy percent and agricultural pesticides fully, in addition to suspending additional customs duties on urea fertilizer until February 2027 and authorizing the ministry to directly purchase DAP fertilizer. Regarding water resources, the generated energy fees in hydroelectric stations were amended to maximize ministry revenues. The council further approved the bill for Iraq's accession to the Digital Cooperation Organization charter with a formal reservation, alongside exempting a plot of land belonging to the Iraqi Scientific Academy from public auction procedures.