One-quater of hospitals treating COVID in Afghanistan collapsed after Taliban takeover: WHO

A high-level delegation from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday informed that Afghanistan's efforts to respond to the pandemic have drastically gone down as nearly one-quarter of the hospitals treating Covid-19 have collapsed after the Taliban's takeover

The delegation also informed that Afghanistan's health system is on the brink of collapse and the country may face an imminent humanitarian catastrophe unless immediate actions are taken, The New York Times reported.

The developments came after a team from WHO met the Taliban leadership and health care workers in Kabul.

"Cuts in donor support to the country's largest health project, Sehatmandi, has left thousands of health facilities without funding for medical supplies and salaries for health staff," Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, and Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, the organization's regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said in a joint statement.

Almost two-thirds of the country's health facilities are a part of the Sehatmandi project which was administered by the World Bank and funded by the agencies of the US and the EU, The New York Times reported.

Many of these facilities have now reduced operations or shut down after the Taliban's siege of Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the delegation also informed that nine of 37 Covid-19 hospitals have been closed, and all aspects of the Covid-19 response have dropped, including surveillance, testing, and vaccination".

Earlier, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also informed that foreign donors should take immediate action to ensure that necessary aid reaches Afghans facing hunger and collapsing health services after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

After the collapse of the democratically elected government, innocent Afghans are facing "a humanitarian catastrophe loom" in the country.

Afghanistan is also facing a major economic collapse. Prices for food and other essentials have risen, even as most banks remain closed, and the UN has reported limited access to cash and possible food shortages, the Human Rights Watch informed.

( With inputs from ANI )