Violence prone casualties almost zero in Afghanistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): Emergency Hospital Country Director Stefano Sozza has said the number of people arriving at emergency facilities with violent injuries in Afghanistan has dropped almost to zero in 2023. In a statement he said the decline in the number of emergency patients in violence was due to improved security situation but added “While the number of people arriving at Emergency’s facilities with violent injuries is decreasing, the number of those who die because they cannot access treatment is rising,” he said. “At our hospital in Kabul for example, we managed 29 mass casualties in 2022, totalling more than 380 patients. In 2023, we have managed only two, and from March 2023 to date none,”Sozza said. He added that Emergency had widened admission criteria at its Surgical Centres, in particular in the Lashkar-Gah hospital, to include civilian trauma cases. This runs parallel to a clear change in the security conditions in the country. All of EMERGENCY’s services are completely free, creating a lifeline in a country where OCHA projects nearly 30 million need urgent humanitarian assistance to survive. As part of the organisation’s efforts to increase the long-term sustainability of its care, EMERGENCY prioritises training local colleagues: more than 97 per cent of EMERGENCY’s staff in the country are Afghan. EMERGENCY’s active residency programmes include surgery, anaesthesia, gynaecology and paediatrics. “In a country already struggling with very serious economic and humanitarian crises, denying girls education means depriving Afghanistan of future resources that could strengthen the economy, public health and stability,” says Sozza. “In the same way, prohibiting employment in NGOs reduces the possibility for vulnerable segments of the population to be reached and to have their needs and rights recognised. Our women colleagues continue to work with us, but we believe it is nevertheless essential that the authorities reconsider these decisions to allow women to continue contributing to the development of their country.”