The healthcare system in Afghanistan is in crisis.
Hospitals and clinics are poorly equipped and medical staff often leave the country for better opportunities abroad.
A lack of international support is adding to the problem.

Kunar

Afghanistan is currently facing a significant crisis within its healthcare system. Hospitals and clinics across the country are described as being poorly equipped, lacking the necessary medical supplies and infrastructure to adequately serve patients. This situation is further exacerbated by the departure of medical staff who leave Afghanistan in search of better opportunities abroad.

The healthcare crisis is also being compounded by a lack of international support. There is a notable absence of external assistance which is crucial for addressing both the supply shortages and the retention of medical professionals. This has led to an exacerbation of the healthcare challenges within the country, impacting the overall well-being of the Afghan population.



Medical supply shortage in Afghanistan

This is not a track for thrill-seekers and adventure travellers. Even these are good driving conditions without mud, snow or landslides. The narrow mountain road, where just one car can pass at a time, is the only way to the hospital. Loaded on vehicles capable for the journey, most of those needing medical help don't have the luxury of ambulances in rural Afghanistan. Since the Taliban takeover of 2021, there's been a sharp drop in donor funds, which held together a broken public health system. The lack of international support also resulted in shutting down basic health units and many clinics. Now, the 150-bed central hospital not only serves half a million people from Kunar's 14 districts, but also patients from Nuristan province. That's where Rahmanullah travelled from, because he cannot afford to go to a private hospital. His son suffers from pneumonia, easily treatable under the right circumstances, but it can turn fatal without proper care. We have doctors, but not many, and we don't have medicine. And the doctors don't know how to treat patients with pneumonia. There is no big hospital like this. The current government, which calls itself the Islamic Emirate, placed multiple bans on women and have also scared away many healthcare professionals. Although women are now allowed in the health sector, there is still a shortage of doctors and nurses. The patients arrived here in a critical stage, and some are dead on arrival. We referred most of the critical patients to Jalalabad. If we had a standard ICU for critical patients, we would not need to send them away. An unforgiving terrain and unpaved roads like this mean people have to travel hours to get medical help. It's not just Kunar province. In other places, where occupation forces spent more than $300 million a day every day for 20 years, it paints a dire picture. Most Afghans believe corruption in previous years robbed them of basic services and facilities. Projects such as this hospital either remained incomplete or only existed on paper. Our basic problem is our 200-bed hospital's unfinished building. We have been reassured that the construction of this building will restart soon. And patients in Kunar have basic demands. We want this road to be built, an ambulance for the clinic and more doctors and specialists. Until that happens, they must take unaffordable, hairless journeys just to see a doctor.

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