BAMYAN CITY (Pajhwok): Some residents in central Bamyan province have complained about the shortage of medicines in health centres and asked the government to address the problem.
Government officials pledged to address the shortage of medicine at health centres.
Ali Jan, a resident of Panjab district, told Pajhwok Afghan News: “Patients bear a lot of problems and get themselves to the district hospital but enough medicines are not available in the hospital and most of the patients are prescribed medicines available outside the hospital.”
He said patients walk for hours to get themselves to the hospital and the shortage of medicines added to their problems.
Ali Jan explained most residents of far-flung areas in the Panjab district had been deprived of health services and they were worried about the shortage of medicines and the long distance to the health centre.
He asked officials to address this issue and ensure the availability of the most needed medicines in the hospital.
Najaf Ali, a resident of Waras district, said that Waras is a remote, hard-to-reach and densely populated district, but most of the people in this district face serious problems in terms of access to health services.
He said in the Shioqul area of Waras district around 3,000 families lived, and some of its residents had to travel four hours to get to a health centre.
He said the remoteness of health centers, especially in the winter season, has made people face serious problems, and a number of patients referred to the district center or the provincial hospital due to the lack of medicine and poor quality of services.
The Medicines shortage problem not only existed in the district centres but the Provincial Hospital also suffered from the same problem.
Hasan Ali, the resident of Shaiber Tou locality of Bamyan City came to the Provincial Hospital for treatment. He said: “When I came to the provincial hospital, I waited for about four hours to get access to the relevant doctor, but he discharged me without any examination and diagnosis, just by asking a few questions.”
This comes when he complained about the shortage of medicine and said he got no medicine from the hospital and the doctor who examined him told him to get medicines from outside the hospital.
He said people from near and remote areas referred to the Provincial Hospital to get treatment but the shortage of medicine and low quality of treatment created problems for the people.
Hasan Ali asked the relevant institutions and health officials to provide enough medicine in the health centers and solve the problems of the people so that the treatment of patients in the government health centers is ensured.
Health officials acknowledged the medicine shortage issue in some health centres and said efforts were underway to address this problem and the issue had been shared with relevant institutions.
Health Department Director Dr. Jafar Zaki said 74 health centres were functional province-wide which were faced with medicine shortage.
He said UNECIF has the responsibility for the provision of medicines to health centres in the province and sometimes they face shortages.
He added that the increase in population, lack of health centers, inaccessibility of transportation routes, the vastness of the area, especially the dispersion of the population are some of the other reasons that have caused the health centers to face a shortage of spices.
Dr. Jafar added public issues had been shared with UNECIF so that tangible efforts could be made this year to address this issue.
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