Healthcare Access to the Poor in Afghanistan

Afghanistan continues to face a series of overlapping crises which are being aggravated by recent terrorist attacks. The humanitarian situation is particularly dire, amid heightened insecurity. In the face of emerging challenges, the scale as well as quality and sustainability of healthcare service remain jeopardized. According to WHO, “Afghanistan’s health system is on the brink of collapse”.

The situation in Afghanistan unfolds with surprising shocks on a daily basis worsening the socio-economic conditions to which healthcare is not an exception. A leading international news agency recently reported that, “the war-torn nation's health care system is on the brink of collapse and has been able to function only with help from aid organizations”.  In the current scenario, many aid organizations have decided to stop their work in Afghanistan due to the recent policies. In the absence of various aid organizations we anticipate more pressure on institutions like FMIC to provide healthcare support specially to those who do not have the wherewithal to afford quality treatment. 

According to the World Bank estimates, over two-third of Afghanistan’s population lives under the poverty line. There is no social health insurance and more than 76% of the healthcare expenses are paid by families’ out-of-pocket. An estimated 6 million people have no access, or insufficient access to healthcare due to unavailability of the public health services or unaffordability of costly private health services. 

FMIC’s Patient Welfare Program (PWP):

In an under-resourced country like Afghanistan, it is critical to not let the cost of high-quality health care costs stand between patients and the medical care that they need. Particularly due to the fear of armed conflicts and political instability, it is imperative to ensure quality healthcare is accessible to everyone regardless of their ability to pay. 

Hundreds of thousands of families have benefited from FMIC’s high quality care. FMIC’s Patient Welfare Programme underwrites the cost of care for people who cannot afford to pay for all or part of their treatment. Given the situation of chronic poverty in Afghanistan and specially in the current scenario, the demands on the Welfare Fund are overwhelming. Since FMIC’s inception over 678,000 patients from all of Afghanistan’s 34 Provinces have benefitted from the program in an amount of USD 47.1 Million. 

The benefit this brings to individuals and their quality of life is enormous. There are numerous stories of how individuals and families benefited from the patient welfare program to start new phases of their lives. 

Links:

• FMIC website
• FMIC Twitter Account
• FMIC Facebook page