Medical workers test for COVID-19 across Kabul

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: TOLOnews correspondent made a report on the daily activities of Dr. Abdullah Noorzai, who is in charge of monitoring urgent coronavirus programs in Kabul, and his colleagues, who visit 22 Police Districts (PDs) in Kabul to deal with COVID-19 cases in the city.

“Our team has taken the cultural issue of gender into consideration so that we can appropriately offer our services to those who have been affected,” Noorzai stated, referring to the need for women medical workers to treat women patients.

“When we test a positive case for the coronavirus, then we proceed to look for others who have been in contact with that patient,” said Toba Waize, a volunteer medical worker.

After checking on one center, the group visited Kart-e-Naw, an area of Kabul, and ran tests on a family who had lost one of its members.

“We have come to work voluntarily to save our people from this virus,” says Ramin Sangin, another volunteer medical worker.

One of the family members stated that their neighbors and shopkeepers stay away from them, so in order to buy foods and necessary items they are forced to shop further away from where they live.

“People stay away and don’t want to come near us,” said the suspected COVID-19 patient.

“The criteria for having the coronavirus was explained to the people in this area,” Noorzai stated.

To identify patients with the COVID-19 virus, the Ministry of Public Health has activated centers across 22 PDs of Kabul, but the residents argue that these centers are not enough, while others state that the information about the locations is limited.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases reached 1,531 on Sunday, despite a lesser number of samples being tested by the government.

The Ministry of Public Health has shared information with the media that indicates that 242 people were tested from 15 different provinces in the last 24 hours, from which 68 were deemed positive. (TOLOnews)