KABUL (Pajhwok): Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has warned that Pakistan’s repatriation policy is limiting Afghan refugees’ access to healthcare and has urged the country to halt their forced deportation.
In a statement, MSF said the policy has severely disrupted refugees’ access to medical services, as many are delaying or avoiding treatment for fear of arrest and document checks.
The organisation said the situation has resulted in preventable health problems, including malnutrition and pregnancy-related complications.
According to MSF, its mobile clinics in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, recorded high rates of acute malnutrition among Afghan refugee children in early 2026.
The report found that 7.6 percent of children were suffering from severe acute malnutrition, while 25.7 percent had moderate acute malnutrition. Nearly 90 percent of all malnutrition patients treated at the clinics were Afghan refugees, most of them women and children.
MSF said that since Pakistan launched its Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan in 2023, more than 2.5 million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan, many of them through forced deportation.
The organisation also called on all countries hosting Afghan refugees to stop forced returns to Afghanistan and ensure that any repatriation is voluntary, safe and carried out with dignity.
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