Reporting sick

On World Health Day, April 7, a look at the state of the nation.

Minister of Public Health Feruzuddin Feruz estimates “50 percent of people don’t have access to basic health services specifically in remote areas.

On World Health Day, April 7, a look at the state of the nation.

Minister of Public Health Feruzuddin Feruz estimates “50 percent of people don’t have access to basic health services specifically in remote areas.” As part of his first 100 days agenda, the minister had promised sharper strategies against corruption in health administration and monitoring of health centres and pharmacies.

Two months ago the minister said 70 percent of diagnosis in Afghanistan was incorrect, and the country was losing millions of dollars on patients who are forced to go abroad for treatment.

Activist Beheshta Asi says there is little to show for the millions the government has spent on health care. People go to “Pakistan or to other countries for treatment”.

Deadly diseases

Cancer kills in Afghanistan unless people can go abroad, says Minister Feruz. He has promised more cancer care facilities but for now “one centre for diagnosis has been established in Jamhuriat Hospital and another to diagnose breast cancer in Istiqlal Hospital”, he said. The health ministry in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency has taken steps to establish three radiotherapy centres.

One more intervention is a private member’s bill in Parliament. The bill has a clause that will make it mandatory for all new hospitals to include equipment for cancer diagnosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) is the other killer disease. While some progress has been made in detection and treatment, the most recent government figures estimate there are 14,000 new cases of TB every year and an equal number of fatalities.

Sima Samar, chairperson of the coordinating board of the Stop TB Partnership Afghanistan, has been quoted saying 14,000 people die from TB related complications annually. “Sixty-three percent are women,” she announced at a programme on World TB Day, March 24. Women were more prone because their health was compromised by repeated pregnancies, poor nutrition and lack of access to medical facilities.

Minister of Public Health Feruz says 97 percent of the population has access to TB diagnosis and treatment. Still there is a need to raise public awareness and eliminate TB, he adds.

Progress on maternal mortality is a challenge. Complications at child birth cause the death of 327 out of 100,000 women. Najia Tareq, the deputy minister of health, one woman dies every two hours from pregnancy-related problems. “These are treatable conditions,” she says.

Gynaecologists and women health workers representing all the provinces who were invited to a meeting by the Ministry of Public Health to discuss problems spoke of how not all hospitals offered specialised mother and child services. There were government and private hospitals that do not have a gynaecologist on their rolls. Shafiqa Breshna Babak, head of a doctors’ union, said: “The number of doctors and midwives are less but the number of patients is more. There are just not enough doctors and midwives for the whole of Afghanistan.” There are an estimated 180 hospitals across the country accessed by some 900,000 patients annually. Roughly 100,000 patients go abroad for treatment.

Spurious drugs

The sale of poor quality and expired medicines are a serious problem. The government is aware of the problem. Minister for Public Health Feruz has been reported saying, “Poor quality medicine is imported via areas that cannot be controlled but still we have agreed with India and Iran to control the quality of their exported medicines. We are also trying to have a similar agreement with Pakistan too.” He was speaking at a meeting to commemorate his year in office.

He said a new law would ensure all pharmaceutical imports were monitored.