Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Health Facilities in our Country

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Health Facilities in our Country

It is really important for all the human beings living on the face of earth to be careful about their lives and their health, as only a healthy person would be able to have an active life and would be able to play an influential role in the society. Healthy people are not only able to support society but they would be able to play a dominant role in building their own personalities and have successful lives.
Therefore, it is imperative that the different human societies that are formed must make efforts to support their citizens in having healthy lives. Some of the societies have been able to achieve great progress and development and they have provided different sorts of facilities to their citizens in order to fight with different types of diseases; however, there are many other societies that have not been capable of developing great institutions, systems and facilities that can enable their citizens to fight even with the most common diseases.

Afghanistan is one of the countries that are suffering from the dearth of better medical facilities for most of its people. In the last few decades, though there have been claims otherwise, the people of Afghanistan have not been able to receive their rudimentary requirements of life conveniently. Since the birth of a democratic government, there have been certain improvements but the concrete changes are yet to be observed. Most of the issues that are related to the lives of poor civilians of Afghanistan have been handled on short-term basis. The donors’ money has supported specific projects that have only assisted the people for a specific period of time; in the meanwhile in certain cases these projects only exist on the papers.

One of the fundamental problems which Afghan people have been fighting with is the issue of miserable state of health services. The health facilities are not proper and most of the diseases that people suffer from stay untreated even in the large cities of the country.

In the later part of last year it was revealed by a news report that more than a dozen children lost their lives in one and a half month in northeastern Badakhshan’s Khawan district due to poor health facilities and lack of required medicine. The deaths were confirmed by Maulvi Abdulhai Tayebi, the provincial chief, who paid a visit to the area. He said that most the children were suffering from cough and chest infections because of severe cold weather. He said that when he reached the area people were protesting and they were asking why their representatives had ignored their problems.

It should be noted that a health clinic had been built in the district at the cost of $440,000 three years ago, which was at the verge of collapse because of the negligence of the relevant authorities and corruption.

This situation is really pathetic and there are many places in the country where such facts exist, but there is no attention paid at all. 

At the same time, the quality of services provided by government hospitals is really very low, their number is not sufficient and they are not established in most of the remote areas; therefore, most of the people do not have access to them. On the other hand private hospitals have been established that can, in no way, be afforded by the people who do not have enough food to eat.

Such a scenario is really dreadful and there should be serious efforts to deal with the situation. Short term projects will never solve the health issues in Afghanistan. Afghan government and the supporting nations must pursue long-term strategies to handle the issue, if they want to help the people of Afghanistan.

At the same time, corruption and loose control, regarding the quality of medicine that is sold in the country, is another major issue, which is responsible for further debilitating the health of the people instead of supporting them during their ill health.

A very recent investigation by Independent Media Consortium (IMC) Productions, published in Pajhwok Afghan News shows that though millions of dollars have been poured into the health sector, there are many Afghans who have their nearest health center at a distance of three days and unfortunately two-thirds of pharmacies do not have professional staff.

The investigative report my IMC shows some very important observations;

Saifullah from Ghazni who is a graduate of the Omar Pharmacy institute in the province but does not work in a drug store, says most staff in pharmacies have not finished school. He says he has no faith in the staff. “Once I wanted a pain killer but they gave me an antidote for poison. When I asked them why they had given me a wrong drug, they said it was the same as written on the prescription. But that was not the case at all,” he says.

The health department head of Khak-i-Jabbar Dr Zabihullah pointed out “unlicensed” pharmacies are a problem in many parts of the country.

Dr Mohammad Hasem Wahaj of Wahaj Diagnostic Clinic and Hospital in Kart-e-Parwan, Kabul, blames the authorities. “Statistics show there is one pharmacist for three drug stores. Who gave the license? How could the pharmacy be opened?” he asks.

He claims “high-ranking” officials in the MoPH are giving “extraordinary orders”. According to the doctor, he was once in a meeting of Welfare Commission of the National Assembly and heads of health laws and pharmacies of MoPH were present. “When they (heads) were asked why they allowed pharmacies to open without pharmacists, they said they received extraordinary orders from high ranking authorities,” he says.

Such a scenario is really dreadful and worth special attention; moreover, only lip service would do no good to change the scenario. Therefore, the authoritative people must take necessary measures and must curb the situation as the issue is very delicate and it is related to the lives of the people. Carelessness in this regard is a type of indirect murder.

Dilawar Sherzai is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at Outlookafghanistan@gmail.com 

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