KABUL (SW) – Following the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country, at least three doctors have died in the capital Kabul alone.
The first victim was a physician at the Amiri Medical Complex Hospital while Dr. Yousef Aryoubi, a public hospital doctor in Kabul, was the second victim of the coronavirus. Mr Aryubi died on Saturday to the coronavirus. The doctor's sister also died the day before his demise.
In the latest case, Dr. Iqbal Omari, a surgeon at the Indira Gandhi Children's Health Hospital, died of coronavirus in Kabul. Confirming the news, the Ministry of Health described his death as a great loss to the Afghan medical community.
One day after the death of Dr. Omari, one of his relatives, Ali Sami, a PhD candidate in economics at the University of Corinth, Budapest, wrote a letter to Salam Watandar:
"No hospital asks people with the coronavirus to perform duty. There is no quarantine, no ventilators, or no one knows how to use the equipment. The intensive care unit, or ECU, is absolutely blocked.
Despite the fact that his respiratory system was disrupted yesterday, his sense of taste did not work at all, and the officials of the Afghan-Japan Hospital did not admit him. One of his companions, who was with him and transported him, fought hard at the hospital to arrange for his admission. A room was allotted to him, but from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., neither a doctor, nor a nurse, nor any other staff member approached him.
The ventilator was not provided. They had to bring him home again. They brought an oxygen cylinder home and took care of him there because there was no hope in the hospital. The amount of oxygen required should be automatically adjusted according to the patient's needs. Dozens of other hospitals were referred, and all responded negatively. Even, I started working here and got in touch with politicians to save his life, but it didn't work! Different organizations and countries have so far helped us with about $ 150 million in the war against coronavirus, but our situation is practically ruined and there is no attention or management at all.
Finally, his condition worsened last night, three ambulances arrived at night and he was taken to the Afghan-Japan hospital, where he died three or four hours later this morning.
This is what doctors who are in charge of the centers against coronavirus do to patients.
Hundreds of volunteer doctors are ready to sacrifice their lives, but the facilities are monopolized, not properly managed, and the doctors on duty are fleeing the infected. Nothing is done. The patients are sent back home by hospital officials.
Do they do this deliberately to downplay the statistics? One way to deal with corona prevalence is to register, examine, and test for suspected cases, but health officials in Afghanistan cannot perform this basic task.
Dr. Omari's family members are also infected with the virus and no one is taking care of them. May God have mercy on Dr. Iqbal, and we shall wait for the death of ourselves and our loved ones."
ENDS
