Iraq’s Parliament questioned the governor of the southern province of Dhi Qar on Wednesday about a fire that engulfed the coronavirus ward of a hospital, killing dozens of people.
Al Hussein hospital in Nasiriyah was set up at the beginning of the pandemic. Officials have not yet said what caused the blaze, but media reports say an oxygen tank exploded.
“Parliament will question the governor of Dhi Qar and the committee that was formed to investigate the fire in the Constitutional Hall on Wednesday afternoon,” Parliamentary Speaker Mohammed Al Halbousi said before the session.
“They will be questioned so that we discover the areas that were neglected and find out the culprits behind this,” Mr Al Halbousi said.
Authorities have faced accusations of negligence and corruption from mourners and the wider public.
Parliamentarian Sarkawt Shamsuldin told The National the questioning would either result in Governor Yahia Nasseri being dismissed or a full hearing into his actions, but no announcement was made immediately after the session.
Iraqi medical officials said 92 people died in the fire and dozens more were injured, but the Health Ministry said on Wednesday that the death toll was 60.
“After completing the procedures of civil defence and forensics in the province,” 39 bodies have been identified and 21 remain unidentified, the ministry said.
“Necessary measures are being taken to determine the identities of the unidentified bodies, and this will be announced once the necessary forensic medical procedures are completed,” it said.
A national health council must be formed to supervise and monitor health institutions, which should be ruled by local governments instead of the central government in Baghdad, Ali Al Bayati, a member of the Iraqi High Commission of Human Rights, told The National.
“Getting this sector out of political interests … and ensuring that decision makers are held accountable is also very important,” Mr Al Bayati said.
Hours after the fire began rescue teams continued to search for those missing from the ward.
Rescue workers and bystanders were seen lifting rubble and metal plates in the search for survivors and victims. Some were looking for body parts.
Abbas Nael, a Nasiriyah resident, said Iraqi politicians must visit the site themselves to see the devastation.
“My message to the authorities is that you are negligent and should be held to account, it is a shame you are still alive while our beloved ones have gone,” Mr Nael told The National.
“We ask local authorities to provide us with lorries so we can remove rubble and find the missing bodies, but no one has responded to our request,” Mr Nael said, as tears rolled down his cheeks.
Hundreds of young people lit candles at the site of the hospital late on Tuesday.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi had called for an investigation into the fire and gave an order for the health directors of the province and hospital to be arrested.
Mr Al Kadhimi said the findings of the investigation would be released within a week.
There was an “urgent need to launch a comprehensive administrative reform process in the Health Ministry”, he said.
The most important reform will be the separation of administrative work from political influence, he said.
The blaze came as Iraq faced another wave of Covid-19 cases, with daily infections rising to between 7,000 and 10,000. About 1 per cent of the country's population has been vaccinated against the disease.
In April, a fire at Ibn Al Khatib Hospital in the capital Baghdad started when oxygen tanks exploded.
At least 82 people were killed, but no senior officials were held accountable after an investigation.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE tour of the Netherlands
UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Fixtures:
Monday, 1st 50-over match
Wednesday, 2nd 50-over match
Thursday, 3rd 50-over match
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
