SAMANGAN (SW) – Officials at the Samangan provincial hospital say that the number of patients with diarrhea has increased in recent days.
Seyed Osman Hamidi, the director of Samangan provincial hospital, told Salam Watandar that in the last 10 days, 1509 patients with diarrhea have visited this hospital. He added: “60% of them are children and 40% are adults, some of whom have been hospitalized. The reason for the increase of this disease is the residents’ lack of access to clean water and the excessive use of sacrificial meat during Eid days.”
Patients admitted to Samangan provincial hospital say that they have contracted various diseases, especially diarrhea, due to the use of contaminated water.
32-year-old Khawaja Mohammad, a resident of “Hasankhel” village in Samangan, said that he is suffering from diarrhea and has been hospitalized in the provincial hospital for three days. “I was on duty when I got diarrhea and now I’ve been hospitalized for three days,” he said. “I also took medicine, but I didn’t get better. Then they transferred me to the provincial hospital.”
Kamela, a female patient in the Samangan provincial hospital, whose 18-month-old child is also suffering from diarrhea, said: “The girl’s name is Khadijah. When I brought her, she was not well. Now, she is healthy and in very good condition.”
Earlier, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had said that it was prepared to treat 137,000 people in case of “acute watery diarrhea” in the summer season across Afghanistan.
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