Governor of Afghanistan’s Helmand Province Sent Letter of Thanks to Estonia for Support of Bost Hospital
03.11.2009
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet met today with the health care advisor
for the governor of Afghanistan’s Helmand Province Dr. Hedayatullah and
the head doctor of the Province’s central hospital Dr. Inayattulah. The
two health care workers from Afghanistan’s Helmand Province arrived
today in Estonia for a two-week training session as part of the Foreign
Ministry and MTÜ Mondo’s joint programme to create a supplementary
training system for doctors in Helmand Province.
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet confirmed Estonia’s ongoing desire to
help build up the health care sector in Helmand Province. The foreign
minister noted that currently the Foreign Ministry is supporting two
projects in co-operation with MTÜ Mondo that are helping to establish
first aid training for adults and create a supplementary training
system for doctors. “At the moment, opportunities for medical workers
in Helmand Province to receive any supplementary training after
completing the appropriate school are extremely limited. Due to the
complicated security situation and cultural factors, all of Afghanistan
continues to struggle with a lack of medical personnel, particularly
female doctors, nurses, and midwives,” said Paet. “This training visit
is the first step in our endeavour to help create the needed training
centre and support the training of nurses and midwives,” he added.
Health care advisor for the governor of Afghanistan’s Helmand
Province Dr. Hedayatullah and the head doctor of the Province’s central
hospital Dr. Inayattulah passed a message of gratitude on to Foreign
Minister Urmas Paet from Afghanistan’s minister of health and presented
a letter of thanks from the governor of Helmand to Estonia for
improving the central hospital of Helmand Province and providing it
with necessary medical equipment.
Paet states that thanks to co-operation between Estonia and Great
Britain, opportunities to get medical treatment in Bost Hospital have
greatly improved. “The hospital’s technical capabilities now meet the
standards set by the health minister of Afghanistan, and this allows
the hospital to take the next step of improving the quality of care and
making its work more effective,” stated Paet. “In addition to supplying
equipment to the medical establishment, it is also very important to
focus on finding the necessary personnel and training them,” he
emphasised.
Paet also emphasised the importance of the other project that is
developing the medical skills of Afghans. “It is very important to give
attention to the residents’ ability to administer first aid when
needed, so that they can take care of their own health and the health
of their families in this way,” stressed the foreign minister.
The Afghan health care workers brought up examples of the most
recent positive developments in Helmand Province’s health care sector,
in which Estonia has played an important role. The medical technology
equipment at Helmand Province’s central hospital is some of the best in
the province. Estonia has helped the hospital to procure, among other
things, an autoclave, oxygen generators, and a portable oxygen delivery
system. Lashkar Gah´ in Helmand Province has begun to offer an
ambulance service—this service is not available anywhere else in
Afghanistan except for Kabul. Across the province there are 52 clinics
offering medical aid, 16 of which have been recently opened.
More than 1.4 million people live in Helmand Province, but there are
only slightly more than 1 300 health care workers there. Fewer than 100
of them are doctors and only four of them are female doctors.
Since March 2008, an Estonian health care expert has been working in
the city of Lashkar Gah´ in Helmand province. The expert’s
responsibility is implementing Estonia’s development co-operation
project on location and consulting with the board of the United
Kingdom’s development team and Helmand’s provincial government about
developing the health care system.
