The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that from tomorrow (Thursday), it will hand over the responsibility of financing 25 hospitals to the Ministry of Public Health.

The spokesperson of the committee noted that after this they will not pay the salaries of health workers and other expenses of these hospitals.

"This program was established to address urgent needs, and the main goal of the International Committee of the Red Cross was to allow officials to organize themselves to assume their responsibilities,” said Parwiz Ahmad Faizi, spokesman for the organization.

One of the hospitals that has been supported by the ICRC for the past two years is the Indira Gandhi Children's hospital in the downtown area of Kabul. Patients come from across the nation to this hospital.

Hospital chief Hasibullah Wardak urged foreign aid agencies to work with the nation's health sector.

"They should keep helping us. We assure our people that we are at their service, just as we have been in the past, and there will be no deficiency in our services,” Wardak noted.

In the meantime, some residents asked the international organizations to increase their aid in the field of health to Afghanistan.

“There is no medicine in hospitals right now, and people are facing problems. People are poor and their economic situation is not good. We ask the international institutions to help Afghanistan in this situation,” said Hekmatullah, a resident of Kabul.

“They should pay doctors’ salaries. It is not the fault of the doctors. Many patients are coming here, and the doctors are treating them well,” said Saifurhman, another resident of Kabul.

The Ministry of Public Health's spokesperson, Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, said the ministry will use its budget to pay the salaries of health workers while they strive toward the nation's health sector's self-sufficiency.

"We will pay the salaries of all the staff of these 25 hospitals that provide health services from the ministry's own budget, and we will provide as much medicine and materials that are necessary in the diagnostic department from the internal budget,” the spokesman noted.

According to figures from the Ministry of Public Health, there are 5,250 hospitals around the nation that offer medical care to people in a variety of sectors. The bulk of these health centers are funded by foreign agencies.