The key issues facing the hospitals in Afghanistan are: a relatively low number of hospitals and hospital beds compared to other countries with a comparable level of income; the uneven distribution of hospital facilities and services with large parts of the population unable to access referral facilities.

Afghanistan ministry of Public Health said that most of the private hospitals in Afghanistan especially Kabul are not standardized.

Afghan public health minister said that these hospitals will reduce to primary health centers according to their facilities.

The newly appointed minister spoke of programs that would create specialized governmental hospitals and private sector in the next two years, and retain at least 50 percent of what is spent abroad for cure inside the country, but emphasized that in the first three months in office he would work toward standardizing the emergency sectors of hospitals.

“As I know, most of private hospitals are not standardizing. The first thing we do is changing the name of these hospitals to primary health centers.” Ferozuddin Feroz, minister of public health said. “Our survey is ongoing and at the earliest time serious measures will be taken and all the needs of remote areas of the country in terms of facilities and medical staff will be provided.”

Despite these measures from the Ministry of Public Health, many Afghans complain about the lack of standard service delivery in the hospitals.

Many of them choose to take their patients outside of the country for treatment due to lack of proper health services in the country, mainly in remote areas.

The Ministry of Public Health has promised stringent measures to address the issue.

Reported by Hamid Sidiqi