Up to 8 children dying daily in Kabul hospital from malnutrition: Source

As many as eight children die each day from malnutrition at just one hospital in Kabul, a reliable source told Ariana News on Wednesday.

According to the source, who asked not to be named, the deaths have happened at the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital in Kabul.

However, hospital officials have denied the claims and said they have recorded only one death from malnutrition in the past month.

Malnutrition among children across Afghanistan has raised serious concerns in the past few months.

Last month, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Afghanistan warned that one million Afghan children could die from severe acute malnutrition if “urgent actions” are not taken.

Hasib Rahimzai Wardag, chief of the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital, said on Wednesday: “We have two wards for malnutrition – one which involves medium-level treatment and supply of materials and the other involves acute cases requiring hospitalization. We had only one death among the patients in beds during the past one month.”

Meanwhile, patients and visitors at the hospital have complained about a number of issues including the lack of discipline among staff, the lack of medicine and medical supplies, and the mistreatment of patients at the facility.

“There is no accountability and we wait so long for doctors. My patient is suffering from both malnutrition and a cleft palate. They should attend to people. We buy all the medicines. There is nothing in the hospital,” said Zarlasht, a relative of one patient.

Humaira, a relative of another patient, said: “I have been at the hospital for one month. I don’t understand why the doctors are not telling me what the child is suffering from and why he is not recovering.”

UNICEF meanwhile has also warned that some 3.2 million children under the age of five are at risk of severe malnutrition in Afghanistan by the end of the year as a result of the country’s severe humanitarian crisis.