Ministry of Public Health officials say that they will renovate the Jamhuriat Hospital in Kabul and ensure the health facility meets international standards so that citizens won’t need to go abroad for medical treatment.

Acting Ministry of Public Health Qalandar Ebad said on Sunday that four billion afghanis have been allocated for the development of this hospital and they are committed to providing quality health services throughout the country.

“For the renovation of this hospital, about four billion afghanis have been allocated. We will spend approximately 317 million afghanis on construction. We will buy approximately two billion and 670 million afghanis [worth of] medical equipment. We will spend 921 million afghanis on salaries,” Ebad said.

Some services that used to be provided at Jamhuriat Hospital will be temporarily moved to Ali Jannah hospital.

“The major need is how to provide services. Current services are largely unaffected. Services are provided temporarily at Ali Jinnah Hospital,” Amirullah, the head of Jamhuriat Hospital, said.

Meanwhile, acting Minister of Communications and Information Technology Najibullah Haqqani said that the Islamic Emirate pays special attention to development projects.

“The problem we face in every sector, especially health, is the quality issue. It is not true that we do not have medics, we do have medics. We have graduates in the technology department. We have professionals in every field. Unfortunately, the quality is such that it does not heal the pain of the society,” Haqqani said.

Hamdullah Nemani, acting Minister of Urban Development and Housing, said: “When occupiers go somewhere, they take the corruption with them. Corruption affects quality.”

According to statistics issued by the Ministry of Public Health, $500 million is spent annually by Afghans on medical treatment outside the country.