Kandahar cleric, hospital director treats addicts with faith

Monitoring Desk

KANDAHAR: Addicts hospitalized in Mullah Zaino’s hospital in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province describe a treatment program focused on devotion and prayer.

Mullah Zaino, who is a cleric, is also the head of the hospital.

At the moment 600 addicts are being treated in the hospital, which the cleric started 18 years ago in Kandahar.

The addicts say they have improved with the faith-based approach:

“When we were first admitted first to the hospital, the cleric gave us water that he had blessed for us and when we start drinking that water we got better and slowly, slowly we overcame our addiction,” said Abdullah, an addict.

“We are getting better drinking the water and we had addicts here who were in a bad condition–but they are getting treated here,” said Sakhi, another addict.

These drug addicts say their health is better than before.

“Our numbers are rising and those who recover are not leaving the hospital; instead they are working in the hospital as volunteers because they felt the social pain,” said Baghwan, an addict.

“Now we have a good life. We went to many places for treatment but here we received the best treatment,” said Nematullah, another addict.

Mullah Zaino said that each addict receives treatment for 40 days in the hospital, and most recover after forty days.

“When addicted people come to the hospital they are in very bad condition and then I give them blessed water and when they drink the water all of their body’s poisonous substances come out through their mouths and gradually they leave their drugs,” said Zaino.

“I created the hospital 18 years ago because I can’t tolerate seeing addicted people in society because they have a bad life,” Zaino added.

Hospital officials say hundreds of drug addicts have been treated in the hospital in the past eighteen years. (TOLOnews)