![A midwife gives prescription drugs to a female patient at one of the newly built health centres in Samagan province in this undated photo. [UNFPA]](/cnmi_st/images/2023/06/20/42644-b-739_416.webp)
SAMANGAN -- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) have partnered to establish 20 clinics in Samangan province to provide free medical care to women and children under the age of five.
Staffed by trained midwives and nurses, these clinics offer a range of services, including prenatal care and birthing assistance, and are equipped with essential medical supplies.
The clinics are located in remote and underserved areas of Samangan, where access to health care is limited.
The midwives who work at the clinics are trained at the SCA Midwifery School for four years, said Mohammad Maher, director of the SCA Health Centres Unit in Samangan.
The centres were established over the last 18 months in the provincial capital Aibak, and in Rohi-do Ab, Khuram wa Sarbagh, Hazrat-e-Sultan, Dara-e-Sof Bala and Dara-e-Sof Payan districts, Maher said.
"Midwives who work at these health centres are local residents," he added. "We selected them."
"After graduation from the SCA Midwifery School, they were hired as midwives, nurses and directors of the centres."
Maher noted the effectiveness of those clinics, especially in addressing reproductive health problems faced by women, reducing the maternal mortality rate, providing prenatal care and offering medical care for children under five.
"All these clinics have been established in remote areas with difficult terrain, where clinics do not exist," he added.
Work on another 11 clinics is ongoing in other parts of the province, and they will become operational by the end of the year, Maher said on June 13.
Midwives who work at these centres provide free medical care to rural women, said Sharifa Amiri, the co-ordinator of the SCA Midwifery School in Samangan.
"These centres have four rooms, two of which are for the accommodation of the midwives and the other two for delivery [of infants]," she told Salaam Times.
The establishment of these small clinics has reduced infant and maternal mortality in the area, she said.
Access to medical care
Women in Samangan have welcomed the facilities, which they say are effective in addressing health problems faced by pregnant women and in preventing maternal mortality during childbirth.
Zahra, 45, a resident of Dara-e-Sof Bala, told Salaam Times she is happy that a health centre was established close to her house.
"Patients would die on the way to the district clinic since our village is far from the district centre," she said on June 14.
"The clinic is five hours away from us, and the road is in poor condition, and there is no mode of transport. People used to take their patients to health centres on donkeys and horses, which would result in the loss of the mother and child, as there was no one to provide medical care to them on the way."
"In the past, women in several villages faced many challenges while seeking medical care, since there were no nearby clinics and doctors, but with the establishment of the health centre, their problems are now addressed," she added.
The medical problems of women in remote areas now have been addressed, agreed Zeb-Ul-Nessa, 36, a resident of Dara-e-Sof Payen.
"In the past, people had to travel for hours in difficult terrain to reach a health centre and receive medical care. Sometimes they would witness the loss of their loved ones on the long way to the health centres," she said.
"We are grateful ... that we have a clinic close to our home. Now women can see a doctor anytime they want," she added.
Her four-year-old son is malnourished and now under the care of doctors at the health centre, she said, adding that his health is improving every day.
Before the new health centres were established in the villages, most women used to deliver babies at home with the help of other local women, said Hamidullah, 56, a resident of Dara-e-Sof Bala.
"The rates of infant and maternal mortality were high before the establishment of the health centres, since reaching other health centres was difficult due to the poor condition of roads. Therefore, the patients would give birth on the road and sometimes even lose their lives," he added.
First of all, we thank all foreign organizations, especially the Swedish Committee, for providing health services to the poor and needy people of Afghanistan. There are still many areas in various parts of the country that do not have access to health facilities, so these small and large works in the field of health can relieve people's pain to some extent, but there is a need for serious monitoring by both the government and the people in this field.
Reply4 Comment
The women of the villages do not have access to better health services, and they are deprived of any kind of care they should receive during pregnancy, and when they give birth, they need to pave a long way to reach at the health centers due to the poor condition of the roads and the remoteness of the health centers. Mortality rate of mothers and babies had increased in Samangan province, and by building women's health centers with the help of the United Nations, the lives of mothers and their children will be freed from the danger and the mortality rate will also decrease.
Reply4 Comment
Dude, what's going on now? The Swedish Committee would have built a provincial hospital where standard services would have been provided. Nothing but cold and fever can be treated in these 20 hospitals. Malaria is also impossible to test for. So, my brother, we would have thanked the Swedish committee for building a hospital, given our problems. Most graduates of two-year institutes are sitting in such hospitals and cannot diagnose diseases. Many times it happened that the patient visited such a hospital. Instead of being diagnosed, he died due to the doctor's carelessness.
Reply4 Comment
Samangan province is a remote province where people have access to few services. We thank the Swedish Committee and the United Nations from the bottom of our hearts for providing health services to the residents of Samangan province. At the same time, as a reader of the Salam Times, I am telling the residents of Samangan province to work hard to maintain their health centers. The clinics were built for you by external institutions; now it is your responsibility to keep them safe and respect the doctors, nurses, and midwives... because these employees work to protect the health of your wives and children. Besides this, develop schools for girls and boys in your areas, and train female and male personnel in every profession so that you can be freed from the need for other people one day. With regards, Muhammad
Reply4 Comment