Herat protest asks health minister to resign or apologize

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Hundreds of residents and supporters of volunteer health workers staged a protest demonstration in front of the Governor’s House in this western city of Herat on Sunday.

The protest was against what they called “disgrace” and “expulsion” of volunteer health workers from the Afghan-Japan Hospital in Kabul by the acting health minister

They chanted slogans — ‘incompetent minister’, ‘resign or apologize’. The protesters claimed that health ministry officials in order to hide corruption entered the Afghan-Japan Hospital in Kabul midnight and forced the Afghanistan Islamic Medical Association (AIMA) volunteers to get out of the hospital.

They said the AMA team had inked a three-month contract with the ministry to serve in the hospital but before the expiry of their contract, the health ministry got them out by force.

Basir Ahmad Danishyar, one of the protesters, said the act of the acting health minister damaged the spirit of volunteer work badly.

He warned corruption increased under Ahmad Jawad Usmani, including the smuggling of ventilators to Pakistan, and expulsion of volunteers from the Afghan-Japan Hospital would pave the way for more corruption.

The protesters said they possessed strong evidence in support of their claims regarding the expulsion of volunteers from Afghan-Japan Hospital.

Masouma Jafari, deputy spokesperson of the ministry of public health, rejected the expulsion of volunteers and said the acting minister had asked them to continue their work along-side the new team.

She said if protesters had evidence regarding corruption and other irregularities, they should provide them to the ministry to get the answer.

Nh/ma