NICOSIA, June 5 : An Iraqi official on Tuesday warned the country was quickly running out of medical supplies and appealed to international organisations to send urgent relief, the Iraqi news agency INA said in a report monitored here, reports AFP.

Iraqi Minister of Industry and Military Industries Amer Hammoudl al-Saadi said supplies of pharmaceutical products needed for surgical operations as well as chemical products needed for the manufacture of widely used medicines were close to depletion.

He said there was a particu-

far need for ammonium nitrate used in the preparation of anaesthetics.

Saadi called on the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross to have the products sent to Iraq.

He cited additional chemicals necessary to manufacture antibiotics, as well as polythene used for medical packaging.

Baghdad had appealed repeatedly to the United Nations to lift the economic embargo imposed In the wake of Iraq's August Invasion of Kuwait.

Iraqi authorities have also asked that its assets abroad be

unfrozen in order to purchase food and medicines.

Reuter says : United Nations Security Council members meet informally Wednesday to discuss a draft resolution that would make Iraq pay for the scrapping of its own weapons of mass destruction.

It woull also give the UN an open nd»! deadline to get rid of AH m.

D’plon'as said the draft, broadly approved by the five permanent members of the council, would also call for voluntary contributions from member states to pay for the daunting task of destroying ballistic missiles and removing nuclear and chemical weapons materials.

The Council later this week also plans to hold a closed informal meeting to review Iraq's compliance with an April 3 resolution that set terms for a permanent ceasefire.

A US official said he expected Iraq to be briefed afterwards on comments from Individual members but that there would be no formal meeting or any change In the stringent trade embargo imposed after Baghdad’s Invasion of Kuwait

Under the April 3 resolution sanctions and other measures against Iraq, such as the removal of its weapons, must be reviewed by the council every 60 days.