GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): Residents of Jaghatu district in southern Ghazni province have built a health centre through their own financial contributions and collective efforts, but say they need medical equipment, medicines and qualified healthcare workers to make it operational.
Residents said Sarab Dara was a remote area of Jaghatu where people had faced numerous difficulties accessing healthcare services over the years. They added that this was the first time in a century that a health centre had been built in the area.
Malik Mohammad Ali Esmatzada, a local elder, told Pajhwok that residents had contributed according to their financial means to construct the centre. Some donated 10 or 20 Afghanis, others hundreds or thousands, while some contributed as much as 10,000 or 15,000 Afghanis.
He explained that although many residents faced economic hardship, the lack of healthcare services had compelled them to work together to build a health centre for their community.
He noted that heavy snowfall and blocked roads during winter made travel to Ghazni city and surrounding areas difficult and sometimes completely impossible.
In such circumstances, patients sometimes had to be carried on people’s shoulders in boxes or on stretchers for one or two days to reach healthcare facilities, he added.
Esmatzada recalled that last winter, a seriously ill mother and her child were transported by helicopter with the government’s assistance.
He called on the relevant authorities to provide the newly built centre with the necessary equipment, medicines and healthcare workers so that residents would not have to endure such difficulties to receive treatment.
Zia Noori, a representative of the Taawun Welfare Foundation, who coordinated the construction of the centre, said an individual had donated one acre of land for the facility. With financial contributions from residents, a building covering around 300 square metres was constructed.
The building includes two large halls, 11 rooms, three bathrooms and other facilities, he explained. The construction cost around 2.5 million Afghanis, all contributed by local residents.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Hakim Azizi, provincial head of CARE International, said the organisation planned to provide the equipment, medicines, healthcare workers and other resources needed to operate the centre by June 2027.
He added that seven male and female healthcare workers and three support staff would work at the facility.
According to Azizi, the centre would provide outpatient department (OPD), maternal and child health, nutrition, nursing and mental health counselling services.
He emphasised that CARE International would deliver its healthcare services in accordance with the rules and regulations in force at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).
Ghazni Public Health Director Rasool Khan Nazari said residents were willing to contribute to the expansion of healthcare services, describing the Sarab health centre as an example of such collective efforts.
He noted that people had so far built more than 15 health centres in different parts of Ghazni province using their own funds, while construction of several others was under way.
Residents had previously built a health centre at their own expense in the Qaluz area of Qarabagh district in the province.
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