There are big plans to replace a Taliban-appointed supervisor of a small district hospital outside the Afghan capital – much to the dismay of the doctors working there.
Mohammad Javid Ahmadi, 22, was asked fresh from the battlefield by his superiors about the kind of work he could do. Posts were offered in a range of ministries and institutions now under Taliban power following the August takeover and fall of the former government.
It was Ahmadi’s dream to become a doctor; Poverty had prevented him from getting admission in medical school, he said. He chose the health sector. Soon after, Mirbacha Kot District Hospital outside Kabul became his responsibility.
“If someone with more experience can take up this position it will be better, but unfortunately if someone (like that) gets this position, after some time you will see that he can be a thief or corrupt,” he said. Said, highlighted a perennial problem of the former government
It’s a job Ahmadi takes very seriously, but he and other health workers at the 20-bed hospital rarely make eye contact with each other. Doctors are demanding payment of overdue salaries amid severe shortage of medicine, fuel and food. Ahmadi’s first priority is to build mosques inside hospital quarters, segregating staff on the basis of gender and encouraging them to pray. The rest will follow God’s will, he tells them.
Patients are seen waiting from the window of a doctor’s office in Mirbacha Kot, Afghanistan, on Monday, October 25, 2021. (AP)
Drama has been going on in Mirbacha Kot in Afghanistan’s health sector since the Taliban takeover. Health workers have faced a difficult adjustment due to an overnight change of power. A host of problems were exacerbated before the rise of the Taliban.
The US froze Afghan assets in American accounts shortly after the takeover, in line with international sanctions that crippled Afghanistan’s banking sector. The International Monetary Organization, which once financed 75% of state expenditure, halted disbursements, leading to an economic crisis in the aid-dependent nation.
Health is badly affected. Taliban Deputy Health Minister Abdulbari Omar said the World Bank funded 2,330 of Afghanistan’s 3,800 medical facilities, including salaries for health workers.
Wages had not been paid for months before the government fell.
Taliban member Mohammad Javid Ahmadi watches patients being treated for drug addiction play inside Mirbacha Kot Hospital in Afghanistan, Sunday, October 24, 2021. (AP)
“This is the biggest challenge for us. When we came here there was no money left,” said Omar. “There is no salary for the staff, no food, no fuel for ambulances and other machines. Hospitals. We have tried to find some from Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, but it is not enough.
Doctors in Mirbacha Kot have not been paid salaries for five months.
Frustrated staff are taking care of 400 patients a day, who come from the neighboring six districts. Some have general complaints or heart disease. Others bring sick children.
‘What can we do? If we don’t want to come here then there is no other job for us. If there was some other work, no one can pay us. It is better to stay here,” said Dr Gul Nazar.
A woman enters a hospital in Mirbaka Kot, Afghanistan, Tuesday, October 26, 2021. (AP)
Ahmadis go round every morning. His short frame, over a black turban, is in stark contrast to the sea of white coats that regularly run in and out of the facility to care for patients.
The first order of the day is the registration book. Ahmadi wants every doctor to sign in and out. It’s a formality that most health workers are too busy to remember, but ignoring it is enough to inspire Ahmadi’s anger.
Second, the mosque.
Workers come to the hospital to take measurements for the project and Ahmadi orders them.
“We are Muslims, and we have 32 staff members, and for them, we need a mosque,” he said.
He said there are many benefits. Relatives may stay overnight with sick patients, sleeping in mosques, as the hospital lacks extra beds, especially in the winter months. “And this is what is needed the most,” he said.
Dr. Najla Qaumi looked surprised.
She too has not been paid for months and regularly complains of shortage of medicine in the maternity ward. They do not have any painkillers for expectant mothers. The pharmacy is stocked only with analgesics and some antibiotics. Is it time for a mosque, he asked.
But Ahmadi said it is the responsibility of non-governmental organizations to restart their aid programs to make up for these shortfalls. The money for the mosque will come from local donations.
His arrival marked the beginning of other sweeping changes.
Men and women were asked to live in separate wards. Women doctors are prohibited from going to the emergency room. Ahmadi ordered them to cover their heads and focus on the female patients.
“We can’t go to the other side of the hospital,” said 27-year-old Dr. Ilaha Ibrahimi. “Woman is woman, man is man, he told us.”
Because of the shortage, doctors advise patients to find medicine elsewhere and go back. Ibrahimi said Ahmadi often checks his prescriptions.
“He’s not a doctor, we don’t know why he’s here, that’s what we ask ourselves all the time,” he said.
But Ahmadi is quick to accuse the former hospital administrator of corruption deeply rife in the hospital under his predecessor, the former government.
He said he was amazed to uncover an entire warehouse full of medical equipment, furniture and other stolen items being sold in the market for personal gain. He could not provide evidence that this was the intention of the previous administrator.
He views his work carefully to ensure this never happens again, echoing the Taliban’s broader objectives for the nation.
Doctors are regularly reprimanded by angry patients, most of whom cannot afford life-saving drugs. “They all fight with us,” said Ibrahimi.
Employees working in night shift say that there is no food. Electricity remains off for hours during the day and the fuel of the generator runs out quickly.
Kumi holds a mobile phone for Roshni as she makes her way to check on the malnourished children.
“Every doctor here is in deep depression,” she said.
On the contrary, Ahmadi said that his dreams are finally coming true.
Working in a hospital has provided something the poor growing up could never do: a medical education.
He claims that in the past two months he has learned to administer injections and to prescribe basic medicines. He said that this is why he examines Ibrahimi’s prescription.
“I know the names of essential medicines for different conditions,” he said proudly. Recently, after a car accident, he was at the scene to give an injection of pain reliever, he said.
Ahmadi still dreams of becoming a doctor, and, like the health workers he supervises, hopes the money will come in some way.
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