Medical Education in Iraq

According to the laws of Iraq, students are not prohibited from having a companion, and in fact a student can have a companion (spouse or children) while studying. However, the companion’s information must be registered on the website and his / her visa application must be submitted. Also, when applying together, he / she must have a passport which is valid for more than 6 months. If the companion wants to work in Iraq, he / she must get the approval of the Labor Office. In other words, as a companion you can work in this country based on the laws and the opinion of the Ministry of Labor.

Currently, medical education in Iraq faces several challenges, many of which are: Being limited to the old curriculum, traditional teaching methods, and the lack of appropriate facilities. These universities are more focused on student attendance and less on curriculum updates. Each of the medical school has its own curriculum and there are no guidelines for all medical schools. Learning is still traditional and is characterized by a teacher-centered approach. This method focuses on the teacher who controls the content of the course and the presentation methods, meaning that the focus is on teaching and not learning. The modern style of medical education has not yet been introduced in most parts of Iraq, and is far away from the student-centered approach in which students are encouraged to take more responsibility for making decisions about learning and question what and how they will learn.

One of the challenges of medical education in Iraq is to provide appropriate clinical encounter for students and interns at different stages of their careers. This is due to the lack of sufficient clinical expertise in addition to the limited number of training centers and facilities. Students find it difficult to learn because of this limitation. They do not use the theoretical knowledge which they have already learned. This causes them to quickly become discouraged after their first interest in studying medicine, meaning that they will lose their motivation when they are entering the field of medicine. Postgraduate courses are another dilemma. While undergraduate students receive poor teaching, postgraduate students complain of not receiving any teaching. Some interns feel frustrated, stressed, or unsupported by the lack of proper systematic supervision during their residence. This makes their feedback more destructive than constructive. On the way to career specialization (getting specialized), they may encounter policies in both the health and education systems. And without internships it is impossible for the physicians to pursue and get the specialization they want; Because for medical education, having experiences and specialization is more important than having a degree; So it is very important to pass the internship. Students may also get humiliated by their supervisors, forcing most of them to quit their jobs. In addition to these, being an intern in a hostile environment where there are frequent threats and both verbal and physical attacks for security reasons can male it very difficult to learn and study.