Shortage of male and female specialists deepens health care problems in Baghlan district clinic
Residents of Tala wa Barfak district in Baghlan province say the shortage of male and female specialist doctors at the district’s central clinic is forcing them to take patients to the provincial capital, Pul-e Khumri, because of inadequate facilities.
Officials at the district’s central clinic have also confirmed that the shortage of specialist doctors for women and men is a major challenge to providing proper medical services, and that under these constraints they are only trying to deliver minimum care.
Mohammad Shahin Haqbin, the clinic’s director, said patients who need surgery, especially pregnant women or those suffering from internal diseases and kidney stones, do not have access to the necessary treatment facilities at the centre and are therefore transferred to the provincial capital.
The head of the clinic’s nutrition department also said that if patients need surgery or children need to be admitted, they are sent to Pul-e Khumri because the centre does not have inpatient or surgical facilities.
On the other hand, officials from Baghlan’s public health department say that, on the instructions of the Ministry of Public Health, the process of establishing new hospitals in districts including Tala wa Barfak has begun.
Mohammad Hasan Asim, head of Baghlan Public Health, added that construction of hospitals in the districts of Tala wa Barfak, Nahrin and Barki will begin soon so that residents of these areas can gain better access to health services.
Tala wa Barfak, one of Baghlan province’s mountainous districts, has a population of more than 100,000 and more than 100 villages.
Residents of the district say that difficulties in accessing health services in remote areas, especially for families, are a major challenge, and they hope that increased facilities and the recruitment of specialist doctors will reduce the need to transfer patients to other provinces.
