Paktika hospitals lack female doctors, medicines: Residents

SHARANA (Pajhwok): Residents and public representatives in southeastern Paktika province say the shortage of specialist and female doctors and lack of medicines in hospitals are major problems local residents have been struggling with since long.

Paktika is among Afghanistan services and insecurity.

A resident of Janikhel district of Pakitka, Amir Mohammad, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Monday that people in their district and nearby areas availed inadequate health services.

“There is no female or specialist doctor in our district, when we visit the district hospital, we find no doctor or medicines there,” he said.

He said residents of Janikhel, Khairkot and Khoshamand districts took their patients to the provincial capital, Sharana, for treatment, but critical patients often died on the way.

A resident of Mulayan village on the outskirts of Sharana, Zeyar Gul, said there was only one female doctor in the whole of Paktika.

“The female doctor is serving at the civil hospital. She cannot attend all patients. Pregnant women are left on the mercy of nurses and midwives.

Naek Mohammad, a tribal elder in Argun district, said people were in great trouble due to lack of healthcare services in the district.

A member of the provincial council, Aziz Aziz, told Pajhwok Afghan News people faced with problems in search of health services not only in  districts but in the provincial capital as well.

He said they had many times shared these problems with the authorities concerned, but failed to elicit a positive response so far.

Non-profit Organization for Health Promotion and Management (OHPM) has been providing medicines to Pakitka hospitals under a contract with the government.

An OHPM official in the province, Shakeeb Ahmad, said their organization used to resolve everything that belonged to it.

Paktika governor Mujeeb Rahman Chamkani said the Ministry of Public Health had promised to resolve the issues of female doctors’ shortage and delay in supply of medicines to hospitals.

MoPH representative Zabihullah told Pajhwok that he had noted problems in the health sector of Paktika province and would share them with the ministry.

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