The local officials informed about the efforts to prevent selling these drugs.
Our colleague in Helmand visited the mentioned medicine-selling places and gives more information about them.
Although the sale of illegal drugs and medicine has been stopped to some extent in different parts of the country, including the capital, there are still areas where illegal drugs are sold and people are worried.
Regional daily fairs are held on different days of the week in the districts of Helmand province.
These are the fair places where people are still selling arbitrary and sunlight-affected medicines under different names and it has made the citizens worried.
They complain that often these drugs cause the death of people.
I went to the Nad Ali district of Helmand.
This is the district where people have gathered for the daily fair and there are also people who are not doctors, but they sell medicine to people under different names.
Mohammad Khan, a resident of Nad Ali District, told the radio Killid that dozens of people are still taking medicine to daily fairs and causing various diseases after giving it to the people.
He said about the drug:
“All these medicines are expired, many people here don’t know that they get other diseases after using them.”
We continued our investigation in this regional daily fair.
In another part of the fair, we found a person named Hamidullah, who angrily demanded the discontinuation of these medicines.
He added that these people are uneducated and all their medicines are expired.
“I took my medicine, and instead of benefiting me, it made me sick, and then I understood that I should go to the right doctor.”
He made a serious request to the officials of the provincial and public health departments to prevent the use of drugs.
In other parts of Helmand province, we continued our efforts regarding the occurrence and side effects of these drugs.
A similar daily fair is held near the center of Lashkargah, where there are also a lot of illegal drugs.
A resident of Bolan named Wali Jan told me that his uncle had bought medicine at this fair and it made him so sick that he is now hospitalized.
He told Killid Radio:
“My uncle became so sick that he is still in the hospital. The doctor says his stomach is damaged and he has taken medicine too late.”
We had the chance to speak with a medicine seller named Neda Mohammad.
He told Killid Radio that he has no education, but to meet the needs of his life, he sells drugs arbitrarily.
“Yes, I didn’t study. We have all kinds of medicine. If a patient comes, we give them medicine.”
A specialist in Lashkargah, Dr. Muhammad Wali Hammat, also says that the medicines that are bought by people in local fairs, instead of benefiting the patient, cause health problems:
“Giving medicine is only the responsibility of the doctors, taking and using the medicine without it can lead to serious diseases.”
Another doctor, Shabir Ahmed Nusrat, also told the Killid Radio that giving medicine to uneducated people at local fairs can have dangerous consequences.
“This medicine has many disadvantages, it is not known how the medicine works. Most of the time it is expired and causes diseases.
The regional and health officials of Helmand also confirm that medicine is being sold arbitrarily in the settlements.
Dr. Sayed Ahmed Saeed, director of public health of Helmand province told Killid Radio that a commission has been formed including the provincial administration, police chief, and national security agency to prevent selling mentioned drugs.
He added:
“This is true, arbitrary medicines are sold in many areas of Helmand, most of them are expired, and they cause various diseases.”
This is not only in Helmand but also in many other provinces and districts, the sale of arbitrary and expired medicine continues.
But when the government will stop it is a question that time will answer.
Translated by: Shir Ali Jafari
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