Physicians at Kabul’s Antani Hospital said that as the weather is getting warmer the number of patients infected with severe diarrhea has surged in several provinces of the country.
According to them, more than 100 patients come to the hospital every day, and they added that lack of access to clean water and healthy food are among the reasons that this disease surged.
“Every day around 100 patients who are infected with severe diarrhea come to the hospital, there are men and women among the patients, we are trying to treat them all, but the number is increasing day by day,” said Faridullah Omari, physicians at Kabul’s Antani Hospital.
Physicians working at this hospital are concerned about the spread of the disease and asked the Ministry of Health to raise awareness among the people in order to prevent it.
“One day before Eid, we had 21 cases, on the first day of Eid 28 cases of severe diarrhea were recorded, on the second day of Eid 35 cases were recorded and on the third day of Eid 37 cases were recorded in the hospital,” said Farida Qadri, a physician at Kabul’s Antani Hospital.
Meanwhile, a number of patients who came to the hospital for treatment said that the rise in the disease is due to economic problems.
“One day before Eid, I drank a glass of sugarcane juice. The next morning, I had diarrhea. Later, I took medicine, but it did not help,” said Abdul Basir, the patient.
“Over 100 cases of the disease have been recorded in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar,” said Sharafat Zaman, a spokesman of the Ministry of Public Health.
This comes as the Ministry of Public Health said that more than 15 people have died as a result of severe cholera in Helmand province alone.