Afghanistan stares at fresh health emergency with rising pneumonia cases: Report

Kabul [Afghanistan], December 4 (ANI): Amid the perceived humanitarian crisis that has gripped Afghanistan since the Taliban’s takeover last year, there has been a steep rise in pneumonia cases, the Tolo News reported. Quoting doctors at the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital (IGCH) in Kabul, the Tolo News added that more than 30 pneumonia cases are being reported at the hospital every day.

According to the report, the pneumonia outbreak is being attributed to poor hygiene, polluted air and extremely cold temperatures with the onset of winter. Quoting officials in the Ministry of Public Health in Afghanistan, the Tolo News further reported that more than 9,60,000 pneumonia cases have been reported across the country over the past 11 months, with the majority of patients being children.
Speaking to Tolo News, Saifullah Abasin, a doctor, said 30 to 50 pneumonia patients are hospitalised in Afghanistan every day.

He added that 30 per cent of the patients are brought to hospitals in a critical condition as they have to make a long and arduous journey from the remote corners of the country.

The parents of a newborn told Tolo News that their child has been under treatment at the IGCH for pneumonia for over a week. Speaking to the Afgha television news channel, Roya, the child’s mother, said, “He has been battling pneumonia for six days now. I initially got him admitted to a private hospital and bought lots of medicines for him. However, I could only keep him in the private hospital for one night as his conditioned worsened and I was asked to shift my child to the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital.”

The parents of another stricken child told Tolo News that the reason why their son caught pneumonia was that they did not have a room heater at home. This is not Afghanistan’s first brush with a public health emergency under the Taliban. Recently, more than 600 people were found to be infected with a cholera-like enteric disease in the country. The outbreak left 15 people dead.

In August, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had reported that Afghanistan was battling multiple disease outbreaks, including Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD), measles, Congo fever, dengue fever and Covid-19. Over 19,050 confirmed AWD cases were reported in various provinces across Afghanistan, especially Kabul, Paktia, Khost, Paktika, Jawzjan Ghazni, Kandahar and Zabul. Also, as per a report, as many 64,654 cases of measles were also reported across Afghanistan. (ANI)