KABUL (SW) – The International Committee of the Red Cross has stopped its aid to 25 government hospitals until the end of August across Afghanistan.
Parviz Faizi, the spokesperson of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan, told Salam Watandar that this committee provided the salaries of thousands of health personnel and the running costs of the hospitals, as well as the necessary medicine. He added that with this help to the government hospitals, the ICRC was providing healthcare coverage for 25 million people across the country.
Meanwhile, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid of the United Nations (OCHA) has also announced in the last two weeks that the budget reduction of this organization has caused the closure of 262 health centers in Afghanistan.
However, officials in the Ministry of Public Health deny the closure of health centers by international organizations and say that health services are offered in these centers.
Sharaf Zaman Amarkhil, the spokesperson of the ministry, said that if international institutions reduce their aid to the hospitals under their support, the ministry has the ability to provide funds for the supply of health services in the country. The spokesman of the Ministry of Public Health added: “If the aid of foreign organizations to the hospitals is reduced, the Ministry of Health has the ability to pay their expenses from the national budget and the supply of services will continue as usual in these hospitals.”
At the same time, a number of doctors say that the reduction of aid to the health sector can make the supply of health services stagnate in the short term.
Haider Khan Haider, head of preventive medicine of the Ministry of Public Health, says that this ministry has the ability to provide health services in all hospitals. He added: “If the aid of foreign organizations decreases, it will be affected in the short term, but the Ministry of Public Health has the ability to cover their costs from the national budget.”
It should be mentioned that in the past month and a half, three international institutions in the health sector have stopped their activities.
The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan is one of the most important foreign institutions in Afghanistan, which was active in various sectors in 14 provinces, and the provision of health services to the people is one of the most important parts of the activities of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. According to the information published on the website of this committee, 1.7 million people in Afghanistan have received medical services from health centers related to this organization during 2021.
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