Doctors at the Afghan-Japan Hospital say despite the rapid spread of COVID-19 in Afghanistan, there is no provision of world aid, nor omicron diagnostic kits, and that oxygen shortages have become a serious problem.

The emergency department of the Afghan-Japan Hospital is once again full of COVID-19 patients these days, which includes youth and children.

“Our hospital has the capacity of 100 beds, but now we have 85 to 90 patients. Numbers are increasing day by day. The Ministry of Public Health must be prepared because we have not yet reached the peak stage of the disease. Perhaps in the coming weeks the situation will become more critical and the previous COVID-19 private hospitals will be reactivated,” said Heshmatullah Faizi, a doctor at the Afghan-Japan Hospital.

“Every day we have 120 to 180 patients, and more than 80 percent of the cases are positive,” said Ebadullah Ebad, head of the Afghan-Japan hospital's infectious diseases department.

Meanwhile, the doctors at the hospital say that it has been five months since they have received their salaries. According to them, they also face severe shortages of hygienic substances and oxygen.

“Right now, we only have oxygen for our patients for just one more day, but after that we will face a lack of oxygen,” said Ebadullah Ebad, head of the Afghan-Japan hospital's infectious diseases department. “The oxygen generating machine has the capacity to produce oxygen for 60 patients and is not enough for us.”

“COVID-19 patients are brought to this medical center not only from Kabul, but also from other provinces," said a patient.

“We are grateful for the hospital, despite the lack of facilities they helped us a lot,” said a patient.

“Now, the Afghan-Japan hospital has provided us with all the facilities, we are 100% satisfied,” said Saifullah, another patient.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Public Health called on the world to provide more assistance to Afghanistan in the health sector. The ministry also said that in the past 24 hours 388 positive cases of Covid-19 were recorded, in which 5 of these patients have died.

Despite the resurgence of the coronavirus in the country, most treatment centers for COVID-19 patients have been closed. Of these, there is only one active center in Kabul, up from six last year.