A Rural Health Clinic

On our way to view the Buddhas in the Bamiyan Valley we stopped at the Ghorband Village Health Center where the director was expecting us. The clinic serves 45,000 people from the surrounding rural area. Young doctors from Kabul University are required by the government to serve two to three years in one of the rural health centers. The doctors are away today, but inside the building is clean and functional with posters urging smallpox vaccination.

The clinic has a special program for expectant mothers and young children. Within one month measles vaccinations will be available. The clinic sponsors a health education program in schools and homes most necessarily in this land where the germ theory of disease is not fully recognized.

The director is most proud of the well project being build with UNICEF funds. In the valley below the clinic men labor to dig the well shaft by hand passing the dirt to the surface with a rope.. When the well shaft is finished it will be reinforced with concrete pipe. A pump will bring the water up the hill to a tank.

The water will be used by the clinic and pipes will be laid to about 3,000 homes in the valley. It's hoped this clean drinking water will save the lives of many children. The well digging is underway, but there is no progress on the tank. The director sadly explains that the local mullahs ( Moslem religious leaders) do not like the well project and therefore do not send enough labor.

Director ( right ) and his assistant pose proudly in front of the clinic. Notice how well dressed these men are.

The director is in the dark coat on the right took us behind the building to show is the new well project. . To his left Dr. Greg Goldstein and his wife Wendy Goldstein from Australia. Back row Dr. Tarry (left), two assistant directors. In the background one of the men working on the new well which is in the valley below.

Clean Water Is The Biggest Health Need
Even in the major city of Kabul water is obtained from open ditches or juies in the street. This water is used for washing, cooking, and drinking. In large cities the water in the juie is little more than seewage. In the picture below a man is washing cooking utensils in the juie.