BALKH (TOLONews): Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) considers the health sector situation in Afghanistan concerning and states that health centers in Afghanistan, particularly in Balkh province, are facing numerous challenges.
The organization’s report indicates that the lack of long-term support for neonatal and pediatric intensive care centers has affected these health centers.
Part of the Doctors Without Borders report states: “Public health centers in Afghanistan, such as the local hospital in Mazar-e-Sharif in Balkh province, are facing difficulties due to the lack of long-term structural support for the health sector to meet the current expenses needed for staff salaries, medications, medical supplies, fuel, and oxygen supplies.”
Several doctors say there is a need for the caretaker government to develop and implement a comprehensive and standardized program aimed at self-sufficiency of health centers.
A physician Sayed Abdullah Ahmadi says: “Assistance should be sought from cadres inside and outside of Afghanistan to solve this problem and ensure that the people of Afghanistan have access to better health services.”
Another doctor Rohullah Haris states: “Currently, Afghanistan’s health sector is heavily dependent on foreign aid, and this aid is very significant at the level of primary health care, which includes more than 70% of health services, particularly child and maternal health, which is a global health priority.”
Although the Ministry of Public Health has not commented on this matter, it had previously stated that in the past two and a half years, it has employed over 1,500 health personnel and plans to establish 288 health centers across the country.
