Only five Afghan facilities still provide COVID-19 treatment, with 33 others forced to close in recent months due to a lack of doctors, drugs, and even heat. This comes as the number of reported coronavirus cases in the economically stricken country has risen dramatically.
Due to a scarcity of fuel, the only COVID-19 treatment hospital in Kabul can only heat the building at night, even when winter temperatures drop below freezing during the day. Patients are wrapped with thick blankets. Dr. Mohammed Gul Liwal, the organization’s director, stated that they require everything from oxygen to medical supplies.
The Afghan Japan Communicable Disease Hospital has a capacity of 100 beds. As the virus spreads, the COVID-19 ward is nearly always full. Before the end of January, the hospital was seeing one or two new coronavirus patients every day. According to Liwal, 10 to 12 new patients have been admitted every day for the previous two weeks.
“The situation is deteriorating by the day,” Liwal observed, standing in a frigid conference room. Hospital personnel have only gotten one month’s pay since the Taliban took power nearly six months ago, in December.
Post Your Comments