Local officials say the construction of Malil and Mashfi Basic Healthcare Center in Nurgram district of Nuristan province is complete and the clinic is now operational.

According to officials, the healthcare center was built at a cost of 21 million afghanis with the help of the Swedish Committee and the United Nations.

Ghulam Yahya, the head of the Swedish Committee in the East Zone, said this hospital provides healthcare facilities for 32,000 people.

Naqibullah Noori, the head of public health in Nuristan, welcomed the establishment of the new hospital, and said that a lot of work has been done in the healthcare sector in the province recently and that the department had been able to improve services substantially.

“The condition of the health system in this province has improved by fifty percent,” said Noori.

The residents of Nurgram district, who had limited access to healthcare in the province in the past, have also welcomed the initiative.

“We are grateful to the Swedish Committee and UNDP for doing this basic work for us,” said a Nuristan resident.

According to the Public Health Department of Nuristan, the Swedish Committee has also established at least 37 clinics in various districts across the province.

The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) in cooperation with Germany’s Peace Village plans to take 80 Afghan children to Germany for medical treatment on Thursday.

These children are suffering from bone diseases and severe burns, according to ARCS

Eighty children will be sent to Germany, fifty-five of them for bone disease treatment and the remaining 25 have severe burns, said Irfanullah Sharafzoi, a spokesperson for ARCS.

Sharafzoi also stated that of the 90 children sent for treatment six months ago, 50 of them will return to the country on Wednesday and the rest will come home once they have recovered.

“Fifty of the children who were sent to Germany in the past year will return to the country tomorrow, and 40 of them will be returned to the country after completing their treatment in Germany,” he said.

Habib Hassan, the head of ARCS’ foreign relations said each selection phase takes place every six months and almost 1,000 children are assessed at a time by ARCS.

“So far, [over the years] 4,854 children have been treated through this process,” Hassan said.

Children eligible for treatment have to be between the ages of one and 11 and girls and boys are treated. They have their medical expenses paid by the German Peace Village Charity Foundation.

The foundation has been working in cooperation with ARCS for over 30 years in Afghanistan to facilitate the treatment of children. Wednesday’s group of children will be the 89th group to be sent to Germany.

The Minister of Public Health of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) Dr. Qalandar Ebad left Kabul on Thursday for a six-day visit to Qatar.

Leading a high-ranking IEA delegation, Ebad will meet with Qatari officials to discuss the coordination of health services with Qatar; building capacity for Afghan doctors; and discussing cooperation and investment in the field of health care in Afghanistan, the ministry said.

The ministry added that Ebad will also visit a number of health care facilities in Qatar while in the Gulf country.

The Ministry of Public Health is trying to raise the level of knowledge and expertise of Afghan doctors so that Afghans will no longer need to go abroad for treatment.

Ebad had previously said that nothing has been done in the health sector in the past twenty years.