Afghanistan facing shortage of medicines, seeks Pak help

KABUL: Citing a shortage of medicines and Afghanistan's hospitals not properly equipped to treat patients, the Taliban has urged Pakistan to relax its policies to allow more patients to enter the country.

Speaking to media, the new Taliban-incharge stationed at the Torkham border, Syed Ghaziullah, said: "We request Pakistan to relax its policy for the entry of patients through the border." He urged the government of Pakistan to increase the number of patients allowed to enter its territory. "A long queues of ambulances have formed at the Torkham border," he stated. Ghaziullah said Pakistan allows only 40 patients to cross the border every day.

"Our government is still new, the condition of hospitals in Afghanistan is not good," he said, adding that there is a shortage of medicines in Afghanistan as well. In September, Pakistani health authorities had said that they would cooperate with Afghanistan in improving its healthcare infrastructure, which has been affected badly due to the recent conflict.

"We will let them (Afghans) define their needs and then work out what needs to done, priority wise," Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan had told media.

Pakistan had already established a 300-bed tertiarycare health facility in Kabul, titled "Muhammad Ali Jinnah Hospital", which is the only functional public health facility at the moment with 50 oxygenated beds for COVID-19 patients, a Pakistani doctor present in Kabul had said but called for more assistance from Pakistan and other neighbouring countries to avoid a health crisis.