Kunar’s Hilgal Dara residents: No female doctor in our area

ASADABAD (Pajhwok): Some residents of Hilgal Dara of Ghaziabad district in eastern Kunar province say there is no female doctor in health centres of their area and sometimes pregnant women lose their lives during childbirth.

Haji Dawood, a tribal elder of the area, told Pajhwok Afghan News more than 20,000 families lived in their area and they were deprived of health facilities.

He said: “There is no women’s healthcare center in our area, we live in a mountainous area, my wife had a baby in her womb a year ago, we tried to take her to the district health center, but she lost her life on the way.”

He added two health centres were functioning in their area, but neither they had female doctors nor they provided 24 hours services.

Maulvi Najibullah, a religious scholar of Hilgal Dara area, said no infrastructure development work had been done in their area and they were deprived of many basic facilities in addition to health services.

He said: “A female health worker has recently been appointed in a health centre in our area, but she cannot provide health services to the women of the whole area.”

He asked the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to extend health services to 24 hours in their area and hire female workers.

On the other hand, officials of the provincial Public Health Department said in addition to one well-equipped health centre, four others sub-health centres were functioning in the Ghaziabad district and most of them had female doctors.

Ayaz Safi, spokesman for the public health department, told Pajhwok: “We have two health centres in Hilgal Dara area which also have female staff and provide 24 hours services to the people.”

He added that mobile medical teams were also providing services in tareas that were far from health centres.

kk/ma