KABUL (SW) – The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) officials claimed during the annual performance review press conference, that as many as 90 million citizens received treatment at various clinics and hospitals nationwide in the past one year.
Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, the spokesperson of the MoPH, said that last year, 255,300 major surgeries were performed in public hospitals. He added: “Through 4,212 health centers, a total of 87,987,104 patients received various health services while another 1,986,650 patients were admitted in hospitals and 255,300 major surgeries were performed in the country’s hospitals last year.”
He further mentioned that last year, awareness programs were held for 2 million people about the methods of preventing various diseases. He added that more than 8 million children and pregnant women have been given various vaccines. “Vaccine compliance has increased from 65% to 80%, and 8,599,750 children and women have received various vaccines during the past year.”
Officials at the Ministry of Public Health further said that last year, health teams in remote areas of Afghanistan have increased from 42 teams to 96 teams. According to the ministry, Afghanistan has reached self-sufficiency in intra-venous fluid production.
In the meantime, Ishaq Sahibzada, the deputy minister for financial and administrative affairs at the Ministry of Public Health, complaining about the reduction of aid from international institutions, asked the humanitarian community to continue their aid to Afghanistan’s health sector. Sahibzada said: “They have promised to support two or three hospitals, such as Badakhshan Hospital, Helmand Fatema-e Bayat Hospital, Aynu Hospital and Paktia Hospital, but they stopped the support after four months.”
Officials of the Ministry of Public Health further explained that last year, the signing of cooperation agreements with 180 institutions providing health services in Afghanistan and the registration of 184 institutions active in the health sector are among the other achievements of this ministry.
They add that last year the officials of the ministry had traveled to Malaysia, Thailand, Iran, Pakistan, Qatar and Switzerland, with the aim of coordination, control of viral diseases and cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO).
