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Lack of Medical Facilities Cause TB Deaths in Remote Western Afghan District

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

Text of report in English by Afghan independent Pajhwok news agency website

Herat city, 6 September: A tuberculosis epidemic has left 12 people dead in a remote district of western Herat Province, but the provincial public health department put the death toll at seven.

Medical officials in Obe District said up to 30 tuberculosis patients, most of them women, had visited local hospitals. But they could not get proper medical attention due to a shortage of staff and drugs.

Mohammad Yusof Nekdili, a senior doctor, told Pajhwok Afghan News on Tuesday about a dozen people died of tuberculosis last month. The patients consulted the doctors after the disease had caused a lot of damage, he added.

Gol Ahmad (24) of the Greshk area in Obe District said: "The deadly disease took my father's life a month ago." Additionally, patients could not afford to buy medicines because of widespread poverty in the region.

The main hospital in the district has two doctors and just 10 beds - five for tuberculosis patients and as many for others.

Raufa Niazi, director of the Herat public health department, also said only seven people had died so far, but the number of patients might be larger. She said more hospitals would be built in Obe District if enough funds were provided for the purpose.

Source: BBC Monitoring South Asia

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