ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – About 25,000 people with disability who receive financial support from the Kurdish government may lose their monthly payments as they did not turn up for the health reexamination or failed to meet the conditions of the grant, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs told Rudaw.

There are currently 84, 000 disabled people on the payroll of the ministry.

Special committees to reexamine those who receive the financial benefits set up by the ministry have finished their work in all Kurdish provinces, Mohammed Hawdiani said.

“Nearly 10,000 to 15,000 people with disability didn’t turn up for the examination,” Hawdiani said, adding that salaries of those who did not show up before the reexamination committee or do not meet the ministry’s eligibility requirements will be suspended.

“Fifteen percent of the people with disability didn’t show up for the examination, and it is expected that 15 percent more will fail the examination. The anticipation is that the number of people who receive salaries due to supposed disabilities will be down by 30 percent,” he detailed.

The ministry called for the reexamination of the beneficiaries in light of the ongoing financial crisis caused as the result of the budget cut by the Iraqi government since early 2014, a low oil price, and the war against the ISIS group.

“It is highly likely they feared they might not pass the reexamination or were not disabled at all,” Hawdiani told Rudaw in March.

He also said then that the number of people on his ministry’s payroll was 225,000, of whom 111,000 are disabled, 84,000 are under the social care system, 23,000 are special payment beneficiaries, and 6,500 are ministerial staff.





According to figures obtained by Rudaw, the number of people who receive disability benefits is now 84,000.