In case you haven’t checked it out yet, our current issue contains a feature about the dire lack of medical facilities and staff in Afghanistan. The story chronicles the experiences of a doctor working in a military base hospital. The author also visits Red Cross-assisted Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar City and comments on the complications its staff encounters in attempting to provide care to Afghan soldiers and civilians.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, to which copies of the issue were delivered, released in a statement this week news that it has reached an agreement with the Afghan government “under which the ICRC will significantly increase its support for Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar, one of the most important medical facilities in the conflict-ridden southern part of the country.” The ICRC emailed Mother Jones to let us know of its pledge to “improve the overall quality of health care and the performance of hospital staff” at Mirwais for at least the next two years.
