Thousands of children in waiting line for their heart treatment as Afghanistan lacks funds

More than 1000 children are in the country who have congenital heart disease are witing for their treatment but the treatment is closed in Afghanistan since last four months due to unavailability of funds.

The issue began due to the financial conditions, said a spokesperson for ARCS Noor Aqa Sahibzada, stressing that ARCS was very active in past as it was receiving aid from some countries but currently the organisation is not getting aid from anywhere. “My son was about two months of old when his disease was diagnosed, but we were not financially able to pay for treatment,” TOLOnews quoted Abdul Mohammad, a Mazar-e-Sharif resident whose 12-year-old son has heart defects, as saying.

Abdul visited the Afghan Red Crescent office in Kabul to register his 12-year-old son. Guardians of nearly 8-10 children with heart defects daily visit ARCS for treatment. From 200, the group has so far treated 13,000 children and currently about 6000 Afghan children are waiting for their treatment, according to Red Crescent.