Mayor Nuxsha Nasih welcomed Madan Gopal, the Indian consul general to Erbil, at Sulaimani International Airport after receiving aid for survivors of the Halabja chemical attack.
“The medical supplies weigh more than one and a half tons, mostly consisting of medicines for chemical weapons victims, particularly those suffering from asthma and respiratory problems,” Nasih told Rudaw.
There are roughly one thousand survivors of chemical weapon attacks suffering from chronic health conditions in the Kurdistan Region.
According to Nasih, Gopal has ensured that India's support will continue.
"These supplies will cover the patients' needs for one year," she added, emphasizing that priority will be given to individuals with severe injuries and respiratory problems.
She also expressed her appreciation for the aid in a Facebook post.
Hundreds of the Halabja chemical attack survivors are still in the province. Many of them visit Iran two to three times a year for medical treatment.
On the last days of the eight-year-long war between Iran and Iraq, warplanes of the former regime of Saddam Hussein rained down a lethal cocktail of chemical weapons on the city of Halabja on March 16, 1988, killing at least 5,000 people, mostly women and children, and injuring hundreds of others.
The Halabja chemical attack, which was recognized as an act of genocide by Iraq's High Court in 2010, has left a permanent scar in the historical memory of the Kurdish people. It was part of the wider Anfal genocidal campaign that saw over 182,000 Kurds killed by the Baathist regime.
