Protecting medical services important: ICRC

KABUL and said it was trying to improve the protection of medical services.

Under international humanitarian law, civilians, medical workers and health facilities must be spared so that health care could be provided for the needy, a statement from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

“We are concerned by the effects the increased fighting in the summer had on civilians and medical services,” said Anthony Dalziel, the ICRC’s head of operations for South Asia. “In a volatile environment such as the one in Afghanistan, it is especially important that people providing or receiving medical attention be spared at all times.”

New ways of protecting health-care personnel and facilities, medical transports and patients were discussed in September at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and this month at a regional conference of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in Beijing.

Monica Zanarelli, acting head of the ICRC delegation in Kabul, said: “We have observed an increased number of attacks on medical personnel and more frequent obstruction of their work in the past few months.”

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