Ghazni hospital faced with a whole host of problems

GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): The Ghazni Zonal Hospital is faced with a whole host of problems, including the shortage of medicine, fuel, electricity, food and other essential items.

Hospital Director Ajab Khan Hamidi told Pajhwok Afghan News that all medicines were exhausted during fighting. Currently, the hospital has no medicine.

“The medicines were used during fighting. We have only two hours of electricity supply daily at night. We are faced also with a shortage of fuel,” he said.

He added the hospital had stopped providing food for patients and had had no fuel for ambulances to transport patients in critical condition to Kabul.

“We have two ambulances for transferring patients in critical condition to Kabul. But we have no fuel for them.

“Anyone evacuating patients to Kabul provides fuel for the ambulances at their own cost,” the official explained.

Hamidi confirmed they had also reduced operations on patients due to the shortage of electricity and other facilities.

“In the past, we conducted 10 operations a day while six or seven surgeries were performed at night. But currently we are left with fewer resources and cannot perform even 10 operations in 24 hours,” he commented.

In addition, hospital personnel had not received their salaries over the last three months, the director added.

He pointed to an agreement they had signed for the procurement of essential tools and items for the hospital. But yje accord is not being enforced following the change of the government.

“If these problems are not resoved soon, many important section ns of the hospital will have be closed,” he warned.

Patients also complained about the shortage of resources at the hospital.

Shamsullah, a resident of the province, also grumbled about the dwindling services offered by the hospital.

“A few days ago, I took my seriously-ill father to this hospital. But doctors there told me I should transfer him to Kabul.

“I filled the tank of the hospital’s ambulance for 4,000 afghanis. And then I transferred my father to Kabul,” he continued.

Shamsullah said: “My brother has been hospitalised here over the last few days. I buy food for him from outside. In the past, the hospital provided food for patients, but now it has nothing to give patients.”

A number of other patients had similar complaints and asked the government to resolve the problems as soon as possible.

Government officials in Kabul have repeatedly said the problems would be solved but with time.

mds/mud