Afghan officials say health system struggles desperately amid aid cuts

By Bilal Guler and Sayed Khodaiberdi Sadat

KABUL (AA) - Healthcare providers in Afghanistan, especially COVID-19 hospitals, are struggling to continue serving patients as they lack critical materials and facilities such as heating, fuel, power, food, vaccines, medication, and medical equipment, according to officials on Monday.

Most of the 37 COVID-19 hospitals nationwide were shut down due to budget shortfalls after the Taliban took over the government earlier this year, said Health Ministry spokesman Javid Khazhir told Anadolu Agency in an interview.

Noting that omicron variant of coronavirus had no yet been detected in the country, Khazhir said the Taliban government was in contact with local and international aid organizations amid the risk of humanitarian disaster if the new strain spreads across the country before hospitals could be reactivated.

According to the spokesman, the World Bank directly funds COVID-19 hospitals in the country and had promised to keep supporting them until 2024. However, the organization suspended aid as of November, paving the way for more difficulty ahead.

Hospitals have been hit hard as international funds that once met their costs dried up after Afghan reserves in the US were blocked in reaction to the Taliban gaining control in the country.

International organizations, and the UN in particular, have warned of a looming humanitarian disaster exacerbated by the move, deepening the poverty of millions of Afghans as the winter sets in.

Power cuts in hospitals have become a regular occurrence even as their buildings remain unheated amid a shortage of fuel that has also prevented them from turning on their generators.

Ambulances have also been unable operate due to the shortage, while hospital staff have not been paid in months and medical equipment and drugs fall short. Also, some of the doctors fled the country after Taliban takeover.

- Vaccine donations

Khazhir said China had provided 800,000 vaccines so far, while an additional 200,000 jabs are soon to be delivered by Beijing and the total figure expected to eventually reach 3 million.

He went on to say that Australia also pledged to provide 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, adding that Afghanistan was not going through a vaccine shortage at the moment.

Sirinaga Nasiri, head of emergency unit at the Afghan-Japanese COVID-19 hospital, said only four coronavirus hospitals were operating in the county at the moment and patients were flocking in from neighboring provinces.

Nasiri said the hospital ran out of COVID-19 vaccines in the past week and that the Health Ministry had not provided any information on resupply.

He further noted that the COVID-19 figures in Afghanistan were not realistic and that it was almost impossible to obtain the accurate data as the health sector had sustained a heavy blow under the Taliban.

"The health sector was hit following the political transition. With the WHO cutting funds to Afghanistan, the daily reporting system for COVID-19 collapsed, as well. So, the count of COVID-19 cases in Afghanistan is not clear," he said.

Some 95% of hospitals have been adversely affected after the international organizations cut aid, he said.

"We request that the WHO not abandon Afghanistan in such a period," he said, underlining the importance of that aid and especially coronavirus-related materials.

* Writing by Ali Murat Alhas