JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Health clinics in the Haska Mina district have no medicine even for first medical aid, an issue ignored by the provincial authorities concerned, residents complained on Sunday.
In the absence of medicine, people have to face problems, said resident Mohammad Omar Ghorzang, who accompanied a patient to the district health clinic. Doctors at the facility told them to buy medicine from the bazaar, he said.
“Doctors told us that each of them donated 1000 afghanis from their salaries to purchase some medicines used in first medical aid,” Ghorzang said. He said doctors would earlier tell patients that they could not bring medicines via road due to threats from insurgents.
Another resident Haji Ishaq expressed similar views. He said there were health facilities in the district, but they lacked medicines and specialists doctors.
“Earlier, there had been insecurity and we did not complain. But now we want the provincial government to dispatch medicine and experienced doctors to the district in order to mitigate health related issues.” He confirmed doctors spent their own money purchasing some essential medicines.
A doctor at the clinic, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the facility had been lacking medicines for the past few months. “Our responsibility is to examine patients and diagnose their diseases. It is the centre’s job to provide medicine,” he said.
A female patient at the Shpolai health clinic complained she could not afford to buy medicine from the bazaar and always returned home without being given any medicine at the clinic. “We are poor and cannot buy medicine in the market. The government should resolve this issue.”
The Haska Mina district chief, Haji Mohammad Hassan, told Pajhwok Afghan News the clinics often lacked medicines and that he had shared the problem with the provincial Public Health Department. He once again urged the Public Health Department to supply medicines to the district’s health clinics. “It is not true that there is no medicine at all. We face medicine shortages, an issue that repeats.”
But the provincial Public Health Director, Dr. Najibullah Kamawal, rejected the claims, saying they supplied medicines to the province’s 120 clinics every two months.
“The claim that doctors buy medicines for patients from their own money is totally baseless. It is possible a doctor had bought medicine for his own family patients.”
He said his department supplied required medicines to clinics, but sometimes shortages occurred that compelled patients to buy medicines from the market.
“We don’t have medicines enough for all patients, but bed-ridden patients receive all medicines they need,” the director said, adding that their monitoring teams were active to keep vigil on medicines supplied to health centres in all districts.
Residents of remote areas complain they are not given medicines at health clinics due to shortages.
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