MONITORING (SW) – The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction has warned the international community against the crumbling healthcare system in the war-ravaged country.
In a series of tweets, SIGAR said that Afghanistan has long had a shortage of trained healthcare professionals. In 2018, the country had a nationwide average of only 4.6 medical doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 people – far below WHO threshold of 23 per 10,000 people for a critical shortage.
“Since the collapse of the former Afghan govt, figure is most likely lower given Taliban’s inability to pay health-care workers’ salaries, many individuals’ reluctance to work given uncertainty over security conditions, number of health-care workers who fled”, it said.
SIGAR said that Afghanistan’s COVID19 vaccination program continued under Taliban last quarter. It added that two USAID bilateral health programs worked with other donors and partners (including WHO & UN entities) to roll out COVID vaccines through fixed, mobile, health facility sites .
The International Committee of Red Cross warned last month that the access to healthcare remained a major concern for a vast majority of Afghans as thousands of health facilities have closed or are not functioning anymore, and most people can’t afford treatment in private clinics anymore nor travel to neighbouring countries.
It said the effect of banking and liquidity crisis is rippling across the country and huge consequences on the health system are being felt as multiple facilities are not able to pay salaries, or for fuel to run their generators. Ambulances can’t operate; food supplies are running short for the patients, and they lack adequate medicine.
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