Kabul hospitals worried over lack of COVID supplies
Hospital officials in Kabul say they're on the brink of a COVID-19 disaster.
Zalmi Rishtin is the director of the Afghan Japan Hospital in Kabul.
"Before the Taliban takeover we had supplies for one quarter. We had brought medicines and the stock was full, and we are issuing medicines from the same stock. In the past, we would purchase medicine whenever there is shortage, but for now we are just using medicines from the same stock."
The WHO told Reuters at the start of September that hundreds of medical facilities in the country are at risk of imminent closure as donors who provide the financing are not allowed to deal with the new Taliban government.
More than 3.5 million Afghans were already displaced in a country battling drought and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The desperation clear in this patient's plea from his hospital bed.
"Our country is a poor country. We need medicine, different things - almost everything. If someone will come and give us something and the patients' problems will be resolved with Allah's mercy. This is what I request for."
According to UNICEF, less than 4% of the Afghan population is vaccinated.
