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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The integration of health and medical staff in the predominantly Kurdish Hasaka province, in northeast Syria (Rojava), is ongoing and progressing, Syrian Health Minister Musab al-Ali told Rudaw on Thursday, after local health officials in the province had previously put the number of medical workers there at over 4,000.
Asked by Rudaw's Solin Mohammed Amin about the implementation of the merging process, Ali said "the lists [of medical staff] were sent to us, and the Directorate of Administrative Development in Hasaka province is currently working in cooperation with the Directorate of Health to finalize the contracts [of those workers]."
Under the Syrian law regulating the status of public employees in the new Syria, "all employees will be appointed under contracts, and accordingly, the signing of these contracts is itself the merger process," Ali affirmed.
According to the Syrian law regulating the status of public employees in the new Syria, “all employees will be appointed under contracts, and accordingly, the signing of these contracts is itself the merger process,” Ali affirmed.
The Syrian interim leadership began administering and rehabilitating public service projects in Hasaka in February.
The efforts came in the aftermath of the landmark January 29 agreement between Damascus and Rojava, which followed weeks of escalation that saw Syrian government forces and affiliated armed groups seize territory previously held by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in eastern Aleppo, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and Hasaka provinces.
The SDF, which serves as the de facto military force in Rojava and remains a key partner of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), had controlled these areas since expelling the extremist group during the war against it.
Under the agreement, a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire was established, alongside provisions calling for the integration of civil and military institutions in Rojava into the Syrian state.
Since its implementation, several SDF-linked figures have assumed government roles, including positions within the defense and internal security structures, as well as local administration posts in Hasaka province.
SDF-appointed Hasaka Governor Nour al-Din Ahmed in late July told Rudaw that about 70 percent of the institutional integration in Rojava has been completed.
With regards to Hasaka health employees in particular, Ali noted that the integration is not yet finalized but that “work is currently underway to implement it.”
Earlier this month, Khaled al-Khaled, director of health in Hasaka, told Rudaw that while 1,448 health workers in Rojava have been integrated under the Syrian health ministry, "efforts are underway to address the employment status of some 184 other personnel.”
He further detailed that in Hasaka, "our workforce stands at approximately 4,200 to 4,300, but fully operating our infrastructure will require around 5,000 employees." Khaled also pointed to an unequal distribution of health workers across the province, particularly in rural health clinics, where "physician shortages remain acute."
