The only Covid-19 hospital in Uruzgan shut down

TIRINIKOT (Pajhwok): Officials of the Public Health Department in central Uruzgan province say the only Covid-19 hospital has been shut down to financial problems and lack of cooperation from donors.

The 20-bed coronavirus hospital was inaugurated in Tirinkot, the provincial capital, in January 2021. Covid-19 patients from all districts, including Tirinkot, were treated here.

The facility was run by the Ministry of Public Health, with assistance from SHDP and MOVE in terms of equipment and staff salaries.

Public Health Director Dr. Mohammadullah Rohani told Pajhwok Afghan News the hospital had ceased to operate after the expiry of its contract with donors.

He said coronavirus hospitals in some other provinces were facing the same fate, but UN agencies took immediate steps and kept them in operation. However, he added, the Uruzgan hospital’s fate hanged in the balance.

The director said the coronavirus health centre in the province was closed some time ago and all health workers sent home.

For the past one month, the official continued, there had been no centre for the treatment and hospitalisation of coronavirus patients in Uruzgan.

Rohani said the centre, having modern equipment, was capable of diagnosing every kind of disease. But these tools have now been placed in a warehouse.

Blood samples from suspected coronavirus patients in Uruzgan are now sent to neighbouring Kandahar province for diagnosis.

He said efforts were being made to reopen the health centre in January 2022 with the support of MoPH and donor agencies.

He warned if the Covid-19 treatment centre in Uruzgan was not reactivated, many people would lose their lives to the disease.

A source in the Uruzgan Public Health Department, requesting not to be named, told Pajhwok with the closure of the facility, work on a 50-bed hospital for coronavirus patients had also stopped.

He revealed 85 percent of work had been completed on the project that was initiated during the previous government.

The source deplored work on the important project had come to a halt after the Taliban’s return to power.

Mohammad Saleem, a resident of Tirinkot, noted the hospital had been closed after the emergence of Omicron. He asked MoPH to reopen the facility.

sa/mud