A percentage of services provided by private hospitals should be offered free of charge.

Today, 14 June 2026, the staff of Aran Organization for the Development of Civic Culture met with Dr. Saman Barzinji, Minister of Health of the Kurdistan Region. The meeting was held to discuss a joint initiative supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

The initiative focuses on introducing a conditional licensing system for private healthcare institutions. Under this system, private hospitals and healthcare facilities would be required to allocate a percentage of their services to low-income citizens at the same cost as similar services provided in public hospitals. Compliance with this requirement would become a condition for obtaining and renewing their licenses.

During the meeting, the Aran Organization team presented and discussed the proposal in detail with the Minister of Health. The Minister instructed the relevant departments of the Ministry to carefully review and evaluate the proposal so that the Ministry can consider further action on it.

Also on 14 June, the Minister of Health issued a directive to all private hospitals requiring them to receive and treat patients regardless of their ability to pay service fees. This is an important step and reflects part of the objective that Aran Organization sought to promote through its engagement with the Ministry.

Earlier, on 29 April 2026, Aran Organization, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, organized a conference on developing a strategy for managing the health sector and strengthening cooperation with the private healthcare sector. During the conference, participants approved the conditional licensing system proposed by Aran Organization. Today, the proposal was discussed once again with the Minister of Health as part of ongoing efforts to move it forward.