High Treatment Costs in Afghanistan Push Patients Toward Traditional Medicine

The Afghanistan Analysts Network has said in a report that high treatment costs in the country have prevented many families from accessing health services and have pushed them toward traditional and religious treatments.

According to the organisation, the heavy burden of medical expenses, combined with economic hardship, has forced families to turn to shrines, Unani practitioners and other traditional methods instead of seeking standard medical care.

The report includes accounts from several patients suffering from slipped discs, who said they had resorted to non-medical and traditional treatments because they could not afford surgery.

According to the report, the cost of surgery alone for these patients, excluding hospitalisation, medication and other expenses, can reach 150,000 Afghanis.

The Afghanistan Analysts Network also said that after the Taliban returned to power, and as people’s economic situation worsened, medicine prices rose as imports from Pakistan came to a halt.

The Afghanistan Analysts Network is an independent research organisation that publishes reports and analyses on Afghanistan’s political, social and economic issues.