Families in the earthquake-affected areas in western Herat province have complained about the lack of facilities and medicine in the area.

Health teams are busy providing services in all the affected villages, but some of the earthquake victims say the assistance provided is not enough.

With winter fast approaching, children across the province are coming down with seasonal diseases, residents say. According to doctors, however, they say they have enough supplies and medicine to provide basic healthcare services.

One earthquake survivor, Ibrahim, says he was only discharged from hospital a week ago and is still in great pain. He lives in a tent after having lost his home and three brothers in the quake. While Ibrahim survived, he was seriously injured in the tremor.

“It’s been a week since I was discharged from the hospital, and they told me that you will be treated in your tent, and the doctor will provide you with anything you need,” said Ibrahim, a resident of Herat’s Zinda Jan district.

“We want our patient to be taken care of because our patient’s one arm and leg does not work,” said Maryam, a resident of Herat’s Zinda Jan district.

The string of earthquakes that rocked the area last month caused mass devastation and while government medical teams, volunteers and NGOs have been assisting the survivors, challenges have been enormous. Doctors say that all the wounded who were hospitalized in the seminary hospital are now being treated in their areas under tents.

“Since we came here, all the wounded were in the hospital, but now they have discharged the wounded from the hospital, and now the wounded are being treated and cared for in their tents,” said Ahmadjan Rahimi, the head of one of the medical teams in the earthquake-affected areas of Zinda Jan district of Herat.

But some affected families say that there are not enough facilities and medicine in these areas, and they have to transfer their patients to the hospitals in the city center.

“My son is sick here under the tent; no one gives medicine; they only give one packet of tablets, and that doesn’t really help, and I had to take my son to the city for treatment,” said Faqir Ahmad, a resident of Zinda Jan district of Herat.

Currently, health volunteer teams from the women’s and men’s departments are busy providing services in all areas affected by the earthquake. Psychologists are also working with patients with mental health problems.

“I am a vaccinator myself, I work in the vaccination department, and the vaccines that we apply here are generally the vaccines that are applied in the clinics of the city, including tetanus vaccines for women,” said Marziya Ebrahimi, a health volunteer.

“We go and check the people in every tent closely and invite and encourage people to come and participate in the meetings and use the principles of psychological counseling,” said psychologist Mohammad Elias Khairkhowa.

With the cold weather, seasonal illnesses have increased among the affected families, and doctors say that most of these patients are treated in these health centers.