25 illegally run health clinics closed in Baghlan

PUL-I-KHUMRI (Pajhwok): Public Health Department officials in northern Baghlan say they closed 25 private clinics  in Pul-i-Khumri, the provincial capital, for lacking professional and legal personnel and documents.

Dr. Naveed Noori, law enforcement section head at the Baghlan Public Health Department, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Tuesday that they had started surveying clinics in the city to ensure better health services were provided to the people.

He said they surveyed 68 examination facilities in the last two weeks and 25 of them were found lacking legal and professional documents and were closed.

The closed facilities included six laboratories, five dental clinics and non-professional examination place, he said, adding the survey would be extended to districts as well.

Pediatrician Dr. Ashraf Waheed praised the Department of Public Health’s move to close these clinics, saying medical was not a joke or a business for anyone to do.

He said due to such unprofessional people the Afghans distrusted their professional doctors and took their patients to foreign countries.

Besides such clinics run by non-professionals exist in many other provinces.

ma