LASHKARGAH (SW) – Helmand residents are grappling with serious healthcare issues with the lack of female doctors in the province.
The Helmand residents particularly complain about the lack of female specialists in the province.
Residents of Lashkargah told Salam Watandar that the shortage of female doctors in the province has forced many families to move their patients to other provinces and even abroad for diagnosis and treatment.
They want the Ministry of Public Health to take serious action in this regard.
“We do not have specialists who can diagnose the diseases, so the patients have to go to other provinces like Herat, Kandahar and so on”, said a local resident.
Faizullah Andiwal, a health worker in Helmand, said the lack of female specialists in the community is a serious problem for the health sector. According to him, a female specialist plays an important role in preventing maternal and child mortality during childbirth.
“The lack of female specialists in society is a serious and fundamental problem for both the general public and health workers,” he said. “The reason is that not all services related to female specialists in the field of maternal and child health are performed in their absence. In addition, babies who are not yet born and those who are newborns, all of their diseases can be diagnosed and treated by the specialists only.”
Helmand’s director of public health, Dr. Syed Ahmad Sayed, acknowledges the plight of patients due to a shortage of female specialists, but says there are currently four female healthcare providers in the province.
According to him, two of the three female specialists have just arrived, which has solved some of the health problems.
ENDS
