Girls Were Allowed to Study in Medical Institutes

The Ministry of Public Health of the caretaker government recently announced that in eleven provinces of the country, girls can study in medical institutes. The process of registration of 12th grade  graduate girls is going to start in eleven provinces of the country, including Kapisa, Parwan, Panjshir, Maidan Wardak, Ghazni, Paktia, Paktika, Logar, Khost, Badakhshan and Bamyan.

Based on the statements of the Ministry of Public Health, this department has sent official letters to all its provincial units to register girls to join medical institutions, and delegations have been sent to the provinces by this ministry.

This news is announced while the education of girls from the sixth grade and above is prohibited throughout the country and the universities of the country are not allowed to accept female students in any field of study.

On the other hand, lack of female medical and treatment staff in many regions of Afghanistan is one of the major problems facing the people and the health system of Afghanistan. Many citizens, especially in remote areas and districts in the south and west of the country, have complained about lack of female doctors. In addition to this, the Minister of Public Health also mentioned the lack of female doctors in Uruzgan Province.

According to the statistics published by the government, out of 400 districts across the country, only 90 districts have active hospitals, and 310 districts have no doctors or female specialists.

Earlier, Gul Mohammad Osman, the head of the medical council of the caretaker government, considered lack of female doctors in rural areas to be a major problem for the people.

According to him, in big cities like Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and some other cities, there are a sufficient number of female specialist doctors. But there are no female doctors in the areas that have been deprived of education. Women only specialize in obstetrics and gynecology, while there are no female specialist doctors in other departments such as ear and throat, mental and neurological, internal medicine and surgery, which are in dire need.

The ban on education and training of women in schools and universities, which was implemented in 2022, is considered as the main factor behind the backwardness of the society and the lack of scientific and expert staff; This has undoubtedly had negative effects in the field of medicine.

Although the officials of the caretaker government have considered the opening of the gates of schools and universities to girls dependent on the provision of suitable conditions, but with the passage of more than two years, there is still no hope in this field.

This is while the second Doha meeting hosted by the United Nations regarding the review of the situation in Afghanistan with the presence of a large number of foreign diplomats, special representatives of governments for Afghanistan affairs, representatives of civil society and the media ended yesterday; The meeting was not attended by any representative from the caretaker government or the opposing political parties.

Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, emphasized yesterday in this meeting that Afghan girls and women should be actively present in all fields.