GARDEZ (SW) – Samkani is one of the densely populated and remote districts of Paktia, which is located near the Durand Line, but its residents do not have access to appropriate health services and complain about lack of access to health facilities.
Some residents of Samkani district say that the 70-bed hospital of this district was built only for the residents of this district, but now residents of six other districts also bring their patients to this hospital for treatment. For this reason, the number of patients is high and health facilities are few, and this problem has made them face problems.
According to them, this hospital does not have advanced “x-ray” devices and for this reason, some patients are forced to go to Kabul to get an x-ray. They added that due to the increase in the number of patients, this hospital has been facing a shortage of medicine and has only one ambulance, which is not enough.
Nazir, one of the hospital staff in Semkani district, said: “If I talk about the facilities, there are not many facilities here. For example, if I want an MRI or X-ray, it’s available not here, I have to go to Kabul, or if I want a CT scan, it’s not here, I have to go to Kabul. Also, there are no facilities to treat a malnourished patients. One of my children is malnourished and I have to go to Kabul Child to treat him.”
Nurul Rahman, another patient in Semkani district, also said: “The required medicine and other necessary materials such as an ambulance are not enough here. When we bring the patient to the hospital, the necessary medicine is not available here and we bring it from outside. Therefore, more attention should be paid to this hospital because people come here from several districts.”
Meanwhile, the officials of the 70-bed hospital in Semkani district also say that the number of patients is high, but the possibilities are few. Amanullah Mangal, the director of the 70-bed hospital in Samkani district, said that 300 to 700 patients visit this hospital every day, and due to this number of patients, their facilities are limited, and for this reason, the patients are not provided with proper health services.
According to him, in addition to the lack of medicine, this hospital does not even have a waiting room, and for this reason, the residents of the mentioned district are facing many problems. Mr. Mangal added that 3 to 4 patients visit this hospital every day and need to be transferred to Kabul. But this hospital has only one ambulance that cannot transport all patients to Kabul.
He said: “The visitors to this hospital are not only residents of a district, but they are residents of seven districts. Facilities and medicine come for just one district, but clients come from 6 or 7 districts. Therefore, we are facing a problem in the medicine and treatment sector because the number of patients is high and medicine is low.”
However, the officials of the Public Health Department of Paktia say that they are trying to solve the problems of the 70-bed hospital in Samkani district, and some of these problems will be solved soon. Khair Mohammad, head of public health in Paktia, said that a waiting room will be built for the 70-bed hospital in Samkani district, and the number of ambulances will also increase.
He added: “In the case of medicine, we have discussed the issue with the provincial office of Adi institute and UNICEF. Also, we send the needed medicine from our storage to this hospital and other hospitals from time to time.”
Samkani district, which is about 70 kilometers away from Gardiz city, the center of Paktia, is one of the most populated districts of this province, and due to the fact that patients from Ahmadkhel, Lajah Mangal, Janikhel, Dandpatan and Mirzaka districts also come to the hospital in this district, the existing facilities do not cover the need of all the patients.
ENDS
