Kabul, 11 January 2022 (TDI): Each day more than 200 emergency cases to treat their Afghan compatriots turn up at the hospital’s doors, and they are increasing every day since the takeover of the Taliban. Doctor Husna Mohammadi stated that after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban; they receive more people due to the economic crisis.
According to Mohammadi that is because the people cannot afford private hospitals. Furthermore, Mohammadi works a 24-hour shift as a triage officer at the emergency department’s main entrance.
She then added that malnutrition, pneumonia, and anemia are increasing quickly due to the combination of winter and hunger.
The doctors are warning that due to the rise of these cases, the health system is on the verge of collapse. Another reason for the possible collapse of the health system is the end of foreign aid to the de-facto government.
https://twitter.com/pagossman/status/1478650478003113985RED CROSS STATEMENTSÂ
Matt Morris of the International Committee of the Red Cross released a statement on the matter. He mentioned that the health system is on the verge of collapse and has recently struggled to deal with several consequences.
According to Morris, those consequences are the conflict, the lack of funds, and also the ongoing pandemic. He then added that health care facilities are often overloaded and underfunded. Furthermore, that is the reason that the health care facilities are often unable to deliver quality and timely services.
CURRENT SITUATION OF THE HEALTH FACILITIES
Most of the health workers have not received their salaries in months and some nurses don’t have money for the bus fare. Before the Taliban takeover, under the previous government, three-quarters of the budget came from foreign donors.
Although several UN agencies are doing everything they can, and some countries donate for humanitarian purposes; many don’t want to send money to a regime that took the power by force.
Many hospitals don’t have fuel, food, and medicines to treat the patients. The reserves of special food supplements for malnutrition, antibiotics, analgesics, and anesthetics are dwindling.
The doctors ask the patients sometimes to contribute with basic resources like gloves. Some organizations apart from the UN, like the Red Cross mentioned that they started to pay for running costs, and provide vital resources.
RED CROSS AND SEVERAL UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATIONS ASSISTANCE
The assistance of the Red Cross covers 23 regional and provincional hospitals, that have nearly 8000 staff. Several United Nations organizations are providing humanitarian assistance to the vulnerable Afghan citizens, some through money and some through food or other resources.
Unicef and the World Health Organization are two channels that the UN has to provide money to Afghanistan. In this case, to the maintenance of 2,331 health facilities, that includes the payment of 25,000 health workers.
The Indira Gandhi Hospital staff received some salary, and even though it was more than welcomed, but the doctors dont know how much it will last.
Currently, male and female health staff still work side by side, but with fear that the restrictions could be tightened.
The Taliban ordered that male and female staff should have different changing rooms and remain separate whenever possible; although this was not enforced as the hospital said that it was not feasible to do this at that time.
International Relations student at the Universidad de Navarra in Spain. Main interests are the work of International Organizations like the UN in the scope of humanitarian assistance to vulnerable human beings and the environment
