Some Waras district residents deprived of basic health facilities

BAMYAN CITY (Pajhwok): Some residents in the Waras district of central Bamyan province have complained against the non-availability of health service saying sometimes their sick family members are lost due to the wider distance between them and health centre.

Najibullah, the resident of Sorkh Joy village in Waras district told Pajhwok Afghan News it took four hours to reach to a clinic from the place where he lives. He said it was taught to take patients to a clinic for such wider distance.

He said Waras district residents did not have access to basic health facilities and this sometimes caused the loss of some critical patients on their way to hospital.

He said: “Masooma, 23, died on her way from Doona village to the district clinic last winter, people tried to deliver her by a car but the road was blocked due to snowfall and their effort to rescue her did not yield, she died on her way to clinic because their road was snowy and there is no facility to remove snow from the road, her body was brought back in the night.”

Chaman Ali Haidari, the head of the village’s Development Council said, Waras is a remote district and majority of its residents do not have access to health services.

He said around 1,000 families lived in the Shew Qol area while the residents of other areas had to spent six hours by walk to reach a health centre.

Ali said people have been facing enormous problems due to the wider distance towards the health centers, adding that pregnant women specially were unable to give birth to their babies in the clinics and some lost their lives during delivery due to the non-availability of health facilities.

He asked the officials of relevant institutions to pay serious attention for the improvement of health services to the residents of this district.

Doctor Jafar Zaki, the head of provincial Public Health Department said, currently there is no plan or budget for the establishment of additional health centers in Waras district.

According to Zaki, the entire budget of health sector is being spent in the field of emergency health services and according to the needs of the existing health centers in order to solve the health problems of the people.

“There is a “district hospital” in Waras with 23 personnel, including surgeons, midwives, general interns, pediatricians and an ambulance, which is always active in providing health services” Zaki added.

Referring to the complaints regarding the shortage of clinics in the district Zaki said, because of the impassability of transportation routes, the vastness of the area, especially the population dispersion, has caused some residents of this district to be deprived of basic health centers.

He said, the concerns of the residents will be shared the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and other assisting organizations for solution or at least to provide mobile health teams that can respond to the urgent need of the people.

Aw/nh

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