Chaparhar faced with health problems

JALALABAD (PAN facilities, including medicine and professional doctors.

Located 25 kilometres south of Jalalabad, the provincial capital, the district has long been in the grip of militant-linked violence. Dwellers say they are faced with numerous problems that tend to stay unresolved.

One resident Mirwais told Pajhwok Afghan News on Friday health clinics in Chaparhar were too few to address people’s problems. The facilities remained without trained doctors and necessary medicines, he said.

“The main health centre in the district doesn’t have drugs for the treatment of common ailments like malaria,” he grumbled, accusing doctors of stealing and selling the medicines in their private clinics.  

He added the district hospital had only one doctor, who asked poor patients to visit his private clinic. Most people could not afford to pay fees and purchase medicines.

Another man from Dawlatzai village, Siffatullah Khalid, said there were only two clinics in the entire district and they too lacked health workers. “For security reasons, professional doctors don’t report for duty.”

He blamed the provincial administration for bringing security to the district, where most government affairs were being run in an unlawful way.

At the health centres, Khalid claimed, patients were given not a single free tablet and doctors had illegal connections with private hospitals and referred the people there and received part of the fees.

Yama, who visited the Nangarhar Civil Hospital, urged the authorities to appoint profession doctors and medics to facilities in the district. “Even doctors from Chaparhar have left the district due to insecurity.”

Haji Mohammad Siddique Dawlatzai, the district’s administrative head, acknowledged the problems. He said the Nangarhar government had promised to address the public complaints.

But Public Health Director Baz Mohammad Sherzad denied there were only two health centres in Chaparhar. In terms of medicine supplies, the district was being paid greater attention that many other towns, he insisted.

He also rejected the allegation that health centre official sold government-supplied drugs at their private clinics. “If provided with evidence, I would immediately bring the clinic heads to justice.”

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