The lack of a general hospital in the isolated eastern province of Nuristan means that some 300,000 people are at risk of contracting a range of preventable diseases, with many women continuing to lose their lives due to preventable pregnancy-related conditions, local officials and tribal elders said on Monday.
“Despite billions of dollars of international aid coming to the country during the past five years, unfortunately the residents of Nuristan [province] are still deprived of a hospital to treat their women and children,” provincial governor Mohammad Tamim Nuristani, told IRIN.
“We have a small clinic in the capital but we don’t have a surgical or even a dental ward there. There is not even a 10-bed health facility in the rest of the province for our patients,” Nuristani asserted.
Health facilities are few and far between in impoverished Afghanistan with just 1,100 clinics and 100 hospitals serving a population of 30 million people.
Rugged terrain, bad roads, lack of communications and insecurity are the main problems contributing to health problems in Nuristan. At the same time, humanitarian aid is lacking as many national and international NGOs have stopped aid work there due to poor security, officials say.
Some 50 tribal elders from Nuristan were in the Afghan capital, Kabul, at the weekend to bring the plight of the province’s people to central government and to campaign for resources, schools, roads and water supplies, as well as decent health facilities.
“My father had a stomach ache, probably appendicitis, and we tried to take him to a hospital in Mehtarlam [provincial capital of Lagham], some three days’ journey from our village of Ghezee, but he died before we reached the hospital,” Abdul Gafar, a tribal elder from the Mandol district of Nuristan, told IRIN in Kabul.
Problems with pregnancy and birth are also rife, leading to a high number of unnecessary deaths, provincial representatives said.
“If there is an urgent case in the village such as problems in child delivery, appendicitis or anything else... there is no choice but to count the last moments of life,” Abdullah Khan, a tribal elder from Dowab district, maintained.
There is a strong feeling the province has not received a fair share of international donor support. “There are new clinics and hospitals, asphalted roads and new schools in other provinces but I don’t know exactly why we are being ignored. Where did the billions of dollars of foreign aid go?” Gafar asked.
Nuristan’s remoteness means reliable statistics on the health crisis are hard to come by. According to a study conducted in 2002 by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the health ministry, the recorded maternal mortality ratio of 6,500 per 100,000 live births - one of the highest globally – came from Ragh district in the northeastern province of Badakshan.
“But we believe that there may be other areas with similarly high risk in other equally remote districts such as Nuristan province,” Savita Naqvi, head of communications in UNICEF in Afghanistan, told IRIN.
Responding to this, Abdullah Fahim, a health ministry spokesman, accepted that the health needs for the residents of Nuristan province were becoming critical. ”Getting a hospital in Nuristan is really a big issue there.”
“The rugged and mountainous terrain and security problems in Nuristan province are major constraints for donors and aid groups [looking] to construct a hospital in the province,” Fahim told IRIN.
On top of this the financial cost could run to some US $10 to $15 million for a fully equipped general hospital for Nuristan, Fahim noted.
SM/SC/JL
“Despite billions of dollars of international aid coming to the country during the past five years, unfortunately the residents of Nuristan [province] are still deprived of a hospital to treat their women and children,” provincial governor Mohammad Tamim Nuristani, told IRIN.
“We have a small clinic in the capital but we don’t have a surgical or even a dental ward there. There is not even a 10-bed health facility in the rest of the province for our patients,” Nuristani asserted.
Health facilities are few and far between in impoverished Afghanistan with just 1,100 clinics and 100 hospitals serving a population of 30 million people.
Rugged terrain, bad roads, lack of communications and insecurity are the main problems contributing to health problems in Nuristan. At the same time, humanitarian aid is lacking as many national and international NGOs have stopped aid work there due to poor security, officials say.
Some 50 tribal elders from Nuristan were in the Afghan capital, Kabul, at the weekend to bring the plight of the province’s people to central government and to campaign for resources, schools, roads and water supplies, as well as decent health facilities.
“My father had a stomach ache, probably appendicitis, and we tried to take him to a hospital in Mehtarlam [provincial capital of Lagham], some three days’ journey from our village of Ghezee, but he died before we reached the hospital,” Abdul Gafar, a tribal elder from the Mandol district of Nuristan, told IRIN in Kabul.
Problems with pregnancy and birth are also rife, leading to a high number of unnecessary deaths, provincial representatives said.
“If there is an urgent case in the village such as problems in child delivery, appendicitis or anything else... there is no choice but to count the last moments of life,” Abdullah Khan, a tribal elder from Dowab district, maintained.
There is a strong feeling the province has not received a fair share of international donor support. “There are new clinics and hospitals, asphalted roads and new schools in other provinces but I don’t know exactly why we are being ignored. Where did the billions of dollars of foreign aid go?” Gafar asked.
Nuristan’s remoteness means reliable statistics on the health crisis are hard to come by. According to a study conducted in 2002 by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the health ministry, the recorded maternal mortality ratio of 6,500 per 100,000 live births - one of the highest globally – came from Ragh district in the northeastern province of Badakshan.
“But we believe that there may be other areas with similarly high risk in other equally remote districts such as Nuristan province,” Savita Naqvi, head of communications in UNICEF in Afghanistan, told IRIN.
Responding to this, Abdullah Fahim, a health ministry spokesman, accepted that the health needs for the residents of Nuristan province were becoming critical. ”Getting a hospital in Nuristan is really a big issue there.”
“The rugged and mountainous terrain and security problems in Nuristan province are major constraints for donors and aid groups [looking] to construct a hospital in the province,” Fahim told IRIN.
On top of this the financial cost could run to some US $10 to $15 million for a fully equipped general hospital for Nuristan, Fahim noted.
SM/SC/JL
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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