KABUL, AFGHANISTAN --
Solely 5 hospitals in Afghanistan nonetheless provide COVID-19 therapy, with 33 others having been pressured to shut in current months for lack of docs, medicines and even warmth. This comes because the economically devastated nation is hit by a steep rise within the variety of reported coronavirus instances.
At Kabul's solely COVID-19 therapy hospital, employees can solely warmth the constructing at evening due to lack of gasoline, at the same time as winter temperatures drop under freezing throughout the day. Sufferers are bundled underneath heavy blankets. Its director, Dr. Mohammed Gul Liwal, mentioned they want every thing from oxygen to medication provides.
The power, known as the Afghan Japan Communicable Illness Hospital, has 100 beds. The COVID-19 ward is sort of at all times full because the virus rages. Earlier than late January, the hospital was getting one or two new coronavirus sufferers a day. Previously two weeks, 10 to 12 new sufferers have been admitted each day, Liwal mentioned.
"The state of affairs is worsening daily," mentioned Liwal, talking inside a cold convention room. Because the Taliban takeover nearly six months in the past, hospital staff have obtained just one month's wage, in December.
Afghanistan's health-care system, which survived for practically twenty years nearly completely on worldwide donor funding, has been devastated for the reason that Taliban returned to energy in August following the chaotic finish to the 20-year U.S.-led intervention. Afghanistan's financial system crashed after practically US$10 billion in belongings overseas had been frozen and monetary assist to the federal government was largely halted.
The well being system collapse has solely worsened the humanitarian disaster within the nation. Roughly 90% of the inhabitants has fallen under the poverty degree, and with households barely capable of afford meals, no less than one million youngsters are threatened with hunger.
The Omicron variant is hitting Afghanistan exhausting, Liwal mentioned, however he admits it's only a guess as a result of the nation continues to be ready for kits that check particularly for the variant. They had been alleged to arrive earlier than the tip of final month, mentioned Public Well being Ministry spokesman Dr. Javid Hazhir. ' The World Well being Group now says Afghanistan will get the kits by the tip of February.
The group says that between Jan. 30 and Feb. 5, public laboratories in Afghanistan examined 8,496 samples, of which practically half, had been optimistic for COVID-19. These numbers translate right into a 47. 4% positivity price, the world well being physique mentioned.
As of Tuesday, the WHO recorded 7,442 deaths and near 167,000 infections for the reason that begin of the pandemic nearly two years in the past. Within the absence of large-scale testing, these comparatively low figures are believed to be a results of excessive under-reporting.
In the meantime, the brand new Taliban administration says it's attempting to push vaccines on a skeptical inhabitants that usually sees them as harmful.
With 3.2 million vaccine doses in inventory, Hazhir mentioned the administration has launched a marketing campaign by means of mosques, clerics and cellular vaccine clinics to get extra individuals vaccinated. At present barely 27% of Afghanistan's 38 million individuals have been vaccinated, most with the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
Getting Afghans to comply with even a minimal of security protocols, like masks carrying and social distancing, has been close to unimaginable, Liwal mentioned. For a lot of struggling to feed their households, COVID-19 ranks low on their record of fears, he mentioned. The Public Well being Ministry has run consciousness campaigns in regards to the worth of masks and social distancing, however most individuals aren't listening.
Even within the Afghan Japan hospital, the place indicators warn those that masks carrying is necessary, most individuals within the dimly lit halls had been with out masks. Within the intensive care unit, the place half of the ten sufferers within the ward had been on ventilators, docs and attendants wore solely surgical masks and robes for cover as they moved from mattress to mattress.
The top of the unit, Dr. Naeemullah, mentioned he wants extra ventilators and, much more urgently, he wants docs educated on utilizing ventilators. He's overstretched and infrequently paid, however feels duty-bound to serve his sufferers. Liwal mentioned a number of docs have left Afghanistan.
Many of the hospital's 200 staff come to work repeatedly regardless of months with out pay.
In December, a U.S.-based charity affiliated with Johns Hopkins College offered two months funding, which gave the hospital employees their December wage and a promise of one other paycheck in January. The general public well being ministry is now in negotiations with the WHO to take over the price of operating the hospital by means of June, mentioned Liwal.
Liwal mentioned different Kabul hospitals used to have the ability to take some sufferers, however now now not have the sources. With a scarcity of funds and employees leaving, 33 amenities providing COVID-19 therapy nationwide have shut down, he mentioned.
The Afghan Japan hospital's solely microbiologist, Dr. Faridullah Qazizada, earned lower than $1,000 a month earlier than the Taliban took energy. He has obtained just one month's wage since August, he mentioned. He says his tools and amenities are barely sufficient.
"The entire well being system has been destroyed," he mentioned.
Afghan girls put on masks to assist curb the unfold of COVID-19 as they go a retailer promoting masks at a market, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Feb. 7, 2022. (AP Picture/Hussein Malla)
Post a Comment