More than 40 doctors from the government hospital in the eastern city of Gardez, the capital of Paktika province, have tendered their resignations from their offices.

These doctors termed ‘lack of medicine and health facilities at the hospital’ as the prime reason for their mass resignation.

The Ministry of Health, according to its spokesman Dr. Abdullah, has deputed a high level representative to the city to assess the problems. According to him, the resignations have brought about serious problems for the patients in the hospital. The Ministry also informed that the responsibility of provision of medical care and medicine was entrusted upon and NGO named ‘Ibn-e-Sina’. However, the doctors claim they had informed the ministry of the problems much before and that ‘the named NGO has failed to carry out its responsibilities properly. The doctors also claimed that in the past they had tried on numerous occasions to address the problem through the Ministry of Health but no such heed was paid to their voices.

These doctors whose precise number reaches to 42 have sent their resignations to the secretary of Health Paktika. However, it is said that their resignations haven’t yet been accepted.

The Ministry of Health has also warned that if these doctors don’t return to their duties sooner, the patients in Gardez will face serious health problems. In the city of Gardez, there are not many private clinics or health centers and most people visit the government hospital for their health problems.

On the other hand, the NGO ‘Ibn-e-Sina’ says, “The Ministry of Afghanistan is well aware of the functioning of the NGO and if we fail in fulfilling our duties, the Ministry will hold them accountable for it”