Two hospitals handed over to Ministry of Public Health

A 100-bed hospital in Gardez, the provincial capital of Paktia, and a 20-bed facility in Zarghun Shahr district of Paktika were built by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), with funding from USAID.

A statement from USAID said both buildings were handed over to the public health minister during a ceremony in Kabul. According to Pajhwok.

“These hospitals will provide the same level of healthcare to the people of Paktia and Paktika and the surrounding provinces as they would get in Kabul or Kandahar,” Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz said. “This is a step toward raising the standard of healthcare across the entire country.”

The facilities have been constructed by IOM’s Construction of Health and Education Facilities (CHEF) team in late December 2015. Previously, MoPH healthcare workers in Paktia and Paktika either worked in rented facilities or in over-crowded hospitals.

“These hospitals will provide communities the full gamut of health services from childhood immunisation, care for mothers and their newborns, and surgery,” said Mission Director Herbie Smith. “And we are grateful for the assistance of IOM to the people of Paktia and Paktika.”

Both facilities were built to international structural and medical standards, and would provide healthcare more effectively besides offering quality medical services, the statement added.

The hospitals have outpatient, emergency and operation facilities, as well as male and female wards to accommodate patients, educational and administration offices, conference and meeting rooms, laboratories and other services.

“It was rewarding to have USAID and IOM collaborating so closely in Afghanistan to strengthen the capacity of local institutions and to enable the better provision of essential services to the people,” said Lawrence Hart, IOM’s Afghanistan chief of mission.