stroke Unit

2023, in Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, a dream came true for a man who dreamed of things that never were.

The thing that wasn't, not here nor anywhere in Iraq, was a stroke unit that would provide world-class care to the people living in and around the Sulaiman capital.

It had been an exceptionally long dream.

For eight years, Dr. Zana Abdul Rahman Mohammed had been asking why not And each time the answer had been yet another obstacle in the way of treating stroke patients according to global standards.

Stroke patients at his and other Iraqi hospitals were being diagnosed and discharged after receiving little more than nursing care and aspirin.

Dr. Zana knew the burden that awaited them and their families, the financial difficulties, the months of rehab, all while global developments in stroke care promised a different outcome.

Driven by empathy for his patients and the support of a team of courageous young doctors, Dr. Zana dreamed Iraq's first stroke unit into existence and in July this year, Shahar Hospital became Iraq's first diamond hospital.

In an interview recorded last year at the World Stroke Congress in Barcelona, he explained how suffering his patients' suffering made giving up unthinkable.