ANI
25 Nov 2021, 13:48 GMT+10
Kabul [Afghanistan], November 25 (ANI): While the Afghanistan government's healthcare system has long been in dire straits - held afloat almost entirely by the flow of foreign aid for the past two decades, the Taliban takeover has dried up even those bits of help.
Afghan babies are dying and suffering severe malnutrition as foreign aid and medical supplies have dried. The US froze USD 9.5 billion in aid, as did the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, reported Knewz.
Three wards of the state-run facility, Kabul's Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital is overflowing with the desperately ill and the needy. Two or three infants share a cot or incubator bed given the lack of room, and weary, helpless mothers stoically breastfeed on the floor.
"There is no medicine. There is no food. There is no salary," laments Dr. Noorulhaq Yousufzai, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, who has worked at the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital for 28 years. "We have 360 beds, but we have more than 500 patients a day. And if we do not have the right medicine, a child will die."The hospital typically treats newborns to those aged around 14. A large portion of those admitted suffers from severe malnutrition, reported Knewz.
"The malnutrition patients are increasing, and now we see many more with measles because the vaccination programs have deteriorated. But the biggest predisposing factor of all this is poverty," Yousufzai explained.
"If you are not getting enough food, your immune system will weaken. And the economy is only getting worse, and this is hurting the children," added Yousufzai.
Moreover, most humanitarian assistance has not returned, and the economy is rearing toward collapse. The United Nations estimates that 8.7 million people in the war-ravaged nation live in near-famine circumstances.
Some 24 million - sixty per cent - endure acute hunger, and 95 per cent of the 38 million do not have enough to eat. Some 3.2 million children under the age of five are said to be suffering severe malnutrition.
"There is no medicine. So I paid for the medicine and injections from the outside," said one tired mother Shakiba.
Dr. Humayoon explains that the only stock they can carry is to treat "a common cold" for the very first steps of recovery.
"After that, we don't have," he says. "We have basic necessities. Beyond that, the patient has to pay."Many healthcare facilities once operated by international donors have all but disappeared since the regime change, putting an even more onus on the shattered public system. In addition, life-saving medical supplies have all but dried up, with little to nothing coming in, reported Knewz.
Around three per cent of the children admitted over the past three months - approximately 90 per month - have died. Malnourished patients are increasing by the day and are categorized in three wards starting with the most severe, to the slightly improved, and then to the stabilized.
Making matters worse is the notion that healthcare workers have not been paid in months and did not receive salaries under the final months of the now-defunct Ashraf Ghani-led government, let alone under the cash-strapped Taliban, reported Knewz.
"We are government employees, and the staff is making money only from the idea of making money," Yousufzai continues. "Our workers don't even have money to pay for transportation, and often they are coming to work from very far places. There is no money for taxis and buses."In addition to the financial catastrophe, a pariah government, mass displacement from conflict, and years of punishing drought pushing many more to the threshold of famine, winter has settled across the blood-splattered land. (ANI)Get a daily dose of Africa Leader news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Africa Leader.
More InformationMADRID, Spain: Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota and his younger brother, André Silva, have died in a car accident in Spain. Spanish...
LONDON, U.K.: An unrelenting heatwave sweeping across Europe has pushed early summer temperatures to historic highs, triggering deadly...
President Donald Trump's plans to build a space-based Golden Dome missile defense shield have drawn immediate criticism from China,...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Paramount has agreed to pay US$16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by U.S. President Donald Trump over...
LONDON, U.K.: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer won a vote in Parliament this week to move ahead with changes to the country's welfare...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Donald Trump will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday. President...
FRANKLIN, Tennessee: Hundreds of thousands of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles are being recalled across the United States due to a potential...
REDMOND, Washington: Microsoft is the latest tech giant to announce significant job cuts, as the financial strain of building next-generation...
LONDON UK - U.S. stock markets were closed on Friday for Independence Day. Global Forex Markets Wrap Up Friday with Greeback Comeback...
SANTA CLARA, California: Nvidia came within a whisker of making financial history on July 3, briefly surpassing Apple's all-time market...
SACRAMENTO, California: California's multibillion-dollar farms are facing a growing crisis—not from drought or pests, but from a sudden...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Donald Trump says the United States could soon reach a trade deal with India. He believes this deal would...