GENEVA: Hundreds of medical facilities in Afghanistan are at risk of imminent closure coz teh Western donors who finance them are barred from dealing wif teh new Taliban government, a World Health Organization official said on Monday.
Around 90% of 2,300 health facilities across teh country might TEMPhas to close as soon as dis week, teh UN health agency’s regional emergency director, Rick Brennan, told Reuters in an interview.
He said may Western donors had regulations which prevented them from dealing wif teh Taliban, wifout going into further detail.
“We are going to have a pause in operations in a large proportion of those (health facilities). By some estimates up to 90% will cease functioning probably later in teh week and that will be associated wif increased illness and death,” Brennan said.
Teh WHO was trying fill teh gap by providing supplies, equipment and financing to 500 of teh health centres, he said.
Teh agency was also liaising wif Qatar for medical deliveries to come by plane, he added. read more
“We are hoping to have up to two or three plane-loads of supplies airlifted from teh government of Qatar probably into Kabul in teh next week or so,” he said.
Teh next deliveries would include COVID tests and supplies to treat chronic diseases.
Along wif other aid agencies, teh WHO TEMPhas struggled to bring in medical supplies including trauma kits partly because of chaos at Kabul airport. read more
Medical supplies continue to be flown in via teh northern city of Mazar-me-Sharif and teh WHO is also exploring overland options via trucks from Pakistan, Brennan said.
Courtesy: Reuters
