KABUL: The diesel fuel needed to produce oxygen for coronavirus patients has run out. So have supplies of dozens of essential drugs. The staff, unpaid for months, still shows up for work, but they are struggling to make ends meet at home.
This is the plight at the Afghan-Japan Hospital for communicable diseases, the only COVID-19 facility for the more than 4 million people who live in the capital of Kabul. While the coronavirus situation in Afghanistan appears to have improved from a few months ago when cases reached their peak, it is now the hospital itself that needs life support.
Its predicament is a symptom of the crisis in Afghanistan’s health care system, which is on the brink of collapse and able to function only with a lifeline from aid organizations.
“We face many problems here,” said Dr. Ahmad Fatah Habibyar, the hospital’s administration logistics manager, citing three months of unpaid salaries, shortages of equipment and drugs, and a lack of food.
Some of the staff are in such financial difficulties that they are selling their household furniture to make ends meet, he said.
“Oxygen is a big issue for us because we can’t run the generators,” he said, noting the hospital’s production plant hasn’t worked for months “because we can’t afford the diesel.” Instead, oxygen cylinders for COVID-19 patients are bought from a local supplier.
And doctors are bracing for more infections that they fear are inevitable with the omicron variant.
Without outside help, “we are not ready for omicron. A disaster will be here,” said Dr. Shereen Agha, the 38-year-old head of the hospital’s intensive care unit. The hospital was short even of basic supplies like examination gloves, he said, and its two ambulances sit idle for lack of fuel.
The previous government had contracted with a Netherlands-based aid group, HealthNet TPO, to run the hospital. But the contract expired in November and was financed under a fund managed by the World Bank, which like most of the international community has frozen payments to the new Taliban government.
HealthNet TPO program manager Willem Reussing said the organization is in negotiations to secure funding, “but the donor community is very reluctant to continue support and has strict conditions.” The World Health Organization and UNICEF were only managing to maintain minimal services and did not cover the coronavirus response, he added.
“The health care system ... is really on the brink of collapsing,” Reussing said. “The Afghan-Japan Hospital is a dire example, where we are nearly begging donors to step in and save lives.”
When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August amid a chaotic US and NATO troop withdrawal, the international community pulled all funding and froze billions of dollars of Afghanistan’s assets abroad. For a country heavily dependent on foreign aid, the consequences have been devastating.
The economy already was deeply troubled under the previous government, with state employees often going unpaid. Last year, almost half the population was living in poverty, with the situation made worse by the pandemic and a drought that has driven up food prices.
The Taliban government wants the international community to ease sanctions and release Afghanistan’s assets abroad so it can pay civil servants, including doctors and teachers.
The United Nations has sounded the alarm over a hunger crisis, with 22 percent of Afghanistan’s 38 million people near famine and another 36 percent facing acute food insecurity.
“We’re seeing the economic collapse being exponential,” UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said in an interview last week with The Associated Press. “It’s getting more and more dire by the week.”
Nowhere is that more evident than the malnutrition ward of the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital, where anxious mothers sit by emaciated children.
Two-year-old Mohammad, his cheeks sunken and his hair sparse, sipped a cup of high-nutrition milk with his mother, Parwana, beside him. From the central province of Wardak, she had been sleeping in the hospital for six nights.
“I don’t even have money to change his diapers,” the 20-year-old said. Her husband, a tailor, lost both legs in a roadside bomb several years ago, and has trouble sitting up. Work is hard to come by, and Parwana said her father and brothers are helping the family of three survive.
In the next bed, 1½-year-old Talwasa lay covered in blankets. Only her eyes moved behind half-closed eyelids.
“We are in a very bad situation,” said her mother, Noor Bibi, who has six other children. Her husband can’t find work, she said, and “we only eat dried bread and can’t find food for weeks and weeks.”
Deputy Health Minister Dr. Abdul Bari Omar said last week that Afghanistan had 3.5 million malnourished children, although he noted that the data was from the previous government.
“It didn’t happen in the last four months. Malnutrition was inherited from the previous system, but we are trying to find a solution for this problem,” he said, adding that the former administration also had failed to resolve shortages of medical equipment.
The deputy director of the children’s hospital, Mohammad Latif Baher, said the facility had seen 3,000 malnutrition cases in the last four months. Of those, 250 were hospitalized and the rest were treated at home.
Hospital workers also are struggling with shortages, and they have not been paid for months.
“We are loyal to our homeland and our profession. That’s why we still continue our jobs and provide services to our patients,” Baher said, noting they have gone without salaries for five months. He said the hospital also is running low on drug supplies, including special food supplements for malnutrition, as well as antibiotics, analgesics and anesthetics. Some supplies had come in from aid agencies, he added, but more were needed.
The situation was similar at Wazir Mohammed Akhbar Khan National Hospital, where supplies were running low. As with most of the other state-run hospitals, its patients must buy their own drugs, with staff only dipping into emergency supplies for those who truly cannot afford it.
Sometimes doctors are forced to give smaller doses of drugs because they simply don’t have enough, said Ghulam Nabi Pahlawi, the emergency department’s head nurse.
But it is in Kabul’s COVID-19 hospital where the situation seems most severe. Pharmacist Bilal Ahmad said more than 36 essential medications had run out and many others had expired. In three months, he said, another 55 medications will run out.
“The requirements, we cannot fulfill them,” Ahmad said.
Afghanistan’s health care system on the brink of collapse
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Afghanistan’s health care system on the brink of collapse
- For a country heavily dependent on foreign aid, the consequences after the Taliban takeover have been devastating
China’s Xi says tariffs ‘hurt’ multilateral trade: state media
- China responded with a 125 percent duty on goods from the United States.
Tariff and trade wars “undermine the legitimate rights and interests of all countries, hurt the multilateral trading system, and impact the world economic order,” he told Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Beijing and Washington have been embroiled in a blistering trade war since US President Donald Trump this month slapped a 145 percent blanket tax on Chinese imports.
China responded with a 125 percent duty on goods from the United States.
Beijing’s commerce ministry this week warned other nations to be wary in seeking a deal with Washington.
“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” a ministry spokesperson said Monday in a statement.
“Appeasement will not bring peace, and compromise will not be respected,” the statement said.
On Wednesday, Xi said that “despite a constantly changing international situation,” China and Azerbaijan had maintained close ties.
A day earlier, in phone calls with his British and Austrian counterparts, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi urged Britain and the European Union to help in defending multilateral trade.
Pope Francis’ body to lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica as the faithful mourn
- Heads of state are expected for Pope Francis’ funeral Saturday in St. Peter’s Square
- The three days of public viewing are largely for ordinary Catholics to grieve the pontiff
VATICAN CITY: The body of Pope Francis will be moved to St. Peter’s Basilica early Wednesday to lie in state for the Catholic faithful to pay their respects to the Argentine pontiff remembered for his humble style, concern for the poor and insistent prayers for peace.
Heads of state are expected for the funeral Saturday in St. Peter’s Square, but the three days of public viewing are largely for ordinary Catholics to grieve the 88-year-old pope, who died Monday after suffering a stroke.
Francis first lay in state in the Santa Marta Domus in a private viewing for Vatican residents and the papal household. Images released by the Vatican on Tuesday showed Francis lying in an open casket, wearing the traditional pointed headdress of bishops and red robes, his hands folded over a rosary. The Vatican’s No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was pictured praying by Francis.
His body will be transferred Wednesday morning to St. Peter’s Basilica, which will be kept open until midnight on Wednesday and Thursday to allow the faithful to mourn. The public mourning period will end on Friday at 7 p.m.
Once inside the basilica, his casket won’t be put on an elevated bier – as was the case with past popes – but will just be placed on the main altar of the 16th-century basilica, simply facing the pews.
Italian police have tightened security for the viewing and the funeral, carrying out foot and horse patrols around the Vatican, where pilgrims continued to arrive for the Holy Year celebrations that Francis opened in December. The faithful who walk through St. Peter’s Holy Door are granted indulgences, a way to help atone for sins.
“For me, Pope Francis represents a great pastor, as well as a great friend to all of us,’’ said Micale Sales, visiting St. Peter’s Basilica from Brazil.
“I think he spread a positive message around the world, saying there shouldn’t be any violence, there should be peace around the world,’’ said Amit Kukreja, from Australia.
The funeral has been set for Saturday at 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, and will be attended by leaders including US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky.
Cardinals are continuing their meetings this week to plan the conclave to elect Francis’ successor, make other decisions about running the Catholic Church as world leaders and the ordinary faithful grieve the pontiff’s death.
History’s first Latin American pontiff charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated many conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change. He last appeared in public on Sunday with an Easter blessing and popemobile tour through a cheering crowd in St. Peter’s Square.
He had some reservations about looping through the square packed with 50,000 faithful, Vatican News reported on Tuesday, but overcame them – and was thankful that he had greeted the crowd. He died the next morning.
“The death of a pope is not a small thing, because we’ve lost our leader,’’ said Julio Henrique from Brazil. “But still, in a few days, we will have a new leader. So … the thing of hope remains. Who will assume Peter’s throne?”
Vietnam village starts over with climate defenses after landslide
- Last year, Typhoon Yagi’s rains unleashed a landslide that engulfed much of Lang Nu village in mountainous Lao Cai province
LAO CAI, Vietnam: Nguyen Thi Kim’s small verdant community in northern Vietnam no longer exists, wiped away in a landslide triggered by Typhoon Yagi’s devastating heavy rains last year.
She and dozens of survivors have been relocated to a site that authorities hope will withstand future climate change-linked disasters, with stronger homes, drainage canals and a gentler topography that lessens landslide risks.
It is an example of the challenges communities around the world face in adapting to climate change, including more intense rains and flash floods like those Typhoon Yagi brought last September.
Kim lost 14 relatives and her traditional timber stilt home when Yagi’s rains unleashed a landslide that engulfed much of Lang Nu village in mountainous Lao Cai province.
The storm was the strongest to hit Vietnam in decades, killing at least 320 people in the country and causing an estimated $1.6 billion in economic losses.
It is unlikely to be an outlier though, with research last year showing climate change is causing typhoons in the region to intensify faster and last longer over land.
Climate change, caused largely by burning fossil fuels, impacts typhoons in multiple ways: a warmer atmosphere holds more water, making for heavier rains, and warmer oceans also help fuel tropical storms.
Kim remains traumatized by the landslide.
She says everything is painful, especially the memory of the moment a torrent of mud swept away her and her two-year-old daughter.
“This disaster was too big for us all,” she said recalling the moment the pair were pulled from the mud hours later.
“I still cannot talk about it without crying. I can’t forget,” the 28-year-old said.
Yagi hit Vietnam with winds in excess of 149 kilometers (92 miles) per hour and brought a deluge of rain that caused destructive flooding in parts of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
In Lang Nu, 67 residents were killed, and authorities vowed to rebuild the homes of survivors in a safe spot.
By December, 40 new houses were ready at a site around two kilometers away.
It was chosen for its elevation, which should be less impacted by adjacent streams, and its relatively gentle slope gradient.
“Predicting absolute safety in geology is actually very difficult,” said Tran Thanh Hai, rector of Hanoi University of Geology and Mining, who was involved in choosing a new site.
But the site is secure, “to the best of our knowledge and understanding.”
Lao Cai is one of Vietnam’s poorest areas, with little money for expensive warning systems.
However, a simple drainage system runs through the new community, diverting water away from the slope.
This should reduce soil saturation and the chances of another landslide, scientists who worked on the site said.
The village’s new homes are all built of sturdier concrete, rather than traditional wood.
“We want to follow our traditions, but if it’s not safe any longer, we need to change,” Kim said, staring out at the expanse of mud and rock where her old village once stood.
Months later it remains frozen in time, strewn with children’s toys, kitchen pans and motorcycle helmets caught up in the landslide.
Like Kim, 41-year-old Hoang Thi Bay now lives in the new village in a modern stilt house with steel structural beams.
Her roof, once made of palm leaves, is now corrugated iron and her doors are aluminum glass.
She survived the landslide by clinging desperately to the single concrete pillar in her old home as a wall of mud and rocks swept her neighborhood away.
“I still wake up in the night obsessing over what happened,” she said.
“Our old house was bigger and nicer, with gardens and fields. But I sleep here in the new house and I feel much safer,” she said.
Even at the new site, home to around 70 people, there are risks, warned Hai.
Development that changes the slope’s gradient, or construction of dams or reservoirs in the area could make the region more landslide-prone, he said.
Building more houses or new roads in the immediate area, or losing protective forest cover that holds earth in place, could also make the site unsafe, added Do Minh Duc, a professor at the Institute of Geotechnics and Environment at the Vietnam National University in Hanoi.
Yagi wiped out large areas of mature natural forest in Lao Cai and while private companies have donated trees for planting, it is unclear whether they can provide much protection.
“In terms of landslide prevention, the only forest that can have good (protective) effects is rainforest with a very high density of trees, so-called primary forest,” explained Duc, an expert on disaster risk maps who also helped choose the new site.
Leaving the old community was hard for Kim, whose family had lived and farmed there for nearly half a century.
But she is grateful that she and other survivors have a second chance.
“I believe this is the safest ground for us.”
India hunts gunmen who massacred 26 in Kashmir tourist hotspot
- Kashmir has been divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947
- Rebel groups have fought for decades demanding independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan
Pahalgam, India: Indian security forces in Kashmir carried out a major manhunt Wednesday, a day after gunmen opened fire on tourists, slaughtering 26 people in the region's deadliest attack on civilians since 2000.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who cut short a state visit to Saudi Arabia, decried the "heinous act" and pledged that the attackers "will be brought to justice".
A hospital list of the dead verified by police listed 26 dead in the attack -- all men, who were killed on Tuesday afternoon when gunmen burst out of forests at a popular tourist spot and raked crowds of visitors with automatic gunfire.
All the dead were listed as residents of India -- many from across the country -- except one living in neighbouring Nepal.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the attack had been "much larger than anything we've seen directed at civilians in recent years".
No group has claimed responsibility, but rebels in the Muslim-majority region have waged an insurgency since 1989.
They are seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan, which controls a smaller part of the Kashmir region and, like India, claims it in full.
"This attack on our visitors is an abomination," Abdullah said in a statement after the attack.
"The perpetrators of this attack are animals, inhuman and worthy of contempt."
AFP journalists near the site of the attack in Pahalgam, a popular site for tourists in summer some 90 kilometres (55 miles) by road from the key city of Srinagar, reported heavy deployment of security forces.
"The search operation is currently in progress, with all efforts focused on bringing the attackers to justice," the Indian army said in a statement.
In a separate incident, at Barumulla, the army reported Wednesday a "heavy exchange of fire" with gunmen they said were part of an "infiltration bid" crossing the contested frontier from Pakistan.
"Two terrorists have been eliminated", the army said.
At Pahalgam, a tour guide told AFP he reached the scene after hearing gunfire and had transported some of the wounded away on horseback.
Waheed, who gave only one name, said he saw several men lying dead on the ground, while a witness who requested anonymity said the attackers were "clearly sparing women".
The killings came a day after Modi met US Vice President JD Vance in New Delhi.
"Their evil agenda will never succeed. Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger," Modi said in a statement shortly after the attack.
The deadliest recent attack on civilians was in March 2000, when 36 Indians were killed. That attack occurred on the eve of a visit by US president Bill Clinton.
The killings on Tuesday sparked global outrage.
US President Donald Trump called Modi to quickly offer "full support to India to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous attack".
Among the foreign leaders condemning the attack and offering support, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen pledged that "Europe will stand with you".
India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers permanently deployed in the territory but fighting has eased since Modi's government revoked Kashmir's limited autonomy in 2019.
In recent years, the authorities have promoted the mountainous region as a holiday destination, both for skiing in winter, and to escape the sweltering summer heat elsewhere in India.
Around 3.5 million tourists visited Kashmir in 2024, mostly domestic visitors.
Air India said it was adding two extra flights out of Srinagar on Wednesday, as terrified tourists sought to return home.
The worst attack in recent years took place in Pulwama in February 2019, when insurgents rammed a car packed with explosives into a police convoy killing 40 and wounding at least 35 others.
Analyst Michael Kugelman argued that the attack posed a "very serious risk of a new crisis between India and Pakistan, and probably the most serious risk of a crisis since the brief military conflict that happened in 2019".
India regularly blames Pakistan for backing gunmen behind the insurgency.
Islamabad denies the allegation, saying it only supports Kashmir's struggle for self-determination.
One woman survivor described how men in uniform emerged from forests at a meadow where tourists were enjoying the peace of nature, The Indian Express newspaper reported.
Survivors said they had assumed they were policemen.
"They were there at least for 20 minutes, undeterred, moving around and opening fire", the newspaper quoted the survivor as saying.
"It seemed like an eternity".
Thousands evacuate as fire spreads in US state of New Jersey
- Jones Road Wildfire was raging across Ocean County and was 10 percent contained
- Local media said the blaze had begun in a massive, rural coastal ecosystem known as the Pine Barrens
NEW YORK: Some 3,000 residents were evacuated in the US state of New Jersey after a wildfire exploded in size, scorching thousands of acres and threatening hundreds of structures, the state’s fire service said Tuesday.
As of 10:30 p.m. (0230 GMT) the Jones Road Wildfire was raging across Ocean County and was 10 percent contained, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said in a post on social media platform X.
It put the size of the blaze at 8,500 acres (3,440 hectares), just two hours after reporting the fire had hit 3,200 acres.
The fire service said “numerous” fire and rescue personnel had been deployed along with fire engines, bulldozers and ground crews.
It said the cause of the fire was “under investigation.”
Local media said the blaze had begun in a massive, rural coastal ecosystem known as the Pine Barrens, one of the largest protected land areas on the US East Coast.
New Jersey had been under an official drought warning, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection said in March.
Power was knocked out to roughly 25,000 customers, Jersey Central Power & Light said in a post on X.
The blaze also forced the closure of a section of the Garden State Parkway, a major highway through the state.
Ocean County, south of New York City, is a popular tourist destination that is part of the Jersey Shore and contains sights such as the Six Flags amusement park.
The fire service said it would hold a press conference on Wednesday.
