GHOR (SW) – At least 17 children lost their lives in the past six months due to malnutrition in Ghor province, health officials have confirmed officials.
Mohammad Karim, is a father who brought his three-year-old child to Ghor Provincial Hospital for treatment. He has spent more than seven days and nights at the hospital, saying crippling poverty and unemployment are the main causes of malnutrition of his child since has been unable to provide adequate food.
“Our baby is very weak, he is hospitalized here,” said Mohammad Karim. He added the doctors are saying that there is no milk, food or medicine available here for the child. According to him, the family sold many of household items to make ends meet.
Mohammad Karim is not the only one who has been referred to Ghor Provincial Hospital for treatment of his child, but according to Eidi Mah Sultani, head of the malnutrition department at Ghor Provincial Hospital, dozens of children, most of whom are malnourished, come to the hospital every day.
“Approximately 20, 25 to 50 patients come here every day. Unfortunately, there is no nutrition for children, no milk, food or medicine, and there are times when someone who cannot afford the medicine we help them with stay for one or two days, we try to provide medicine so that the patients get better sooner.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Musa al-Fati, a pediatrician at Ghor Provincial Hospital, said that nearly 300 children had been treated at the hospital in the past six months, including 17 who had died.
However, Rumi Ehsanullah, the head of Ghor Health Department, said that they have discussed the problems in the health sector with the authorities in Kabul and the World Health Organization and are trying to solve them.
Ghor health officials say the reasons for the increase in malnourished children in the province is the negligence of institutions working with the health sector, the lack of sufficient facilities for treatment and recent developments in the country.
ENDS
