Afghan children with heart diseases failing to get treatment due to lack of funds
Kabul/IBNS: The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) said the treatment of children in Afghanistan with congenital heart defects — either at domestic medical centers or abroad — has been suspended for the last four months due to a lack of funds.
Officials told Tolo News that more than a thousand children with congenital heart defects have been registered since the beginning of 2021 and are waiting to be treated inside or outside the country, but the process of treatment has been halted.
The Red Crescent said as many as 6,000 Afghan children in total are waiting to undergo treatments.
“The problem occurred due to economic conditions. The Afghan Red Crescent was very active in the past because some countries were supporting the Red Crescent, but they do not help right now,” Noor Aqa Sahibzada, a spokesman for the organization, told Tolo News.
Abdul Mohammad, from Mazar-e-Sharif, visited the Afghan Red Crescent office in Kabul to register his 12-year-old son, Mohammad Zaher, who has heart defects.
The man told the Afghan media outlet that he had borrowed money to travel from Mazar-e-Sharif to Kabul.
“My son was about two months of old when his disease was diagnosed, but we were not financially able to pay for treatment,” said Abdul Mohammad.
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