Hospital Under Attack in Afghanistan. EMERGENCY: “We have Received Patients Wounded in the Attack. We Stand with Our Colleagues”

“We have received four people wounded in the attack today. Three of them have gunshot wounds and one is suffering from shrapnel injuries. We stand with our colleagues at the MSF-affiliated hospital today – victims of a violent attack on a facility where women can give birth safely.” says Marco Puntin, EMERGENCY Afghanistan Programme Coordinator in Kabul, expressing solidarity with those who were subjected to a horrific attack on the maternity ward in a hospital in the Dasht-e-Barchi district. According to Reuters, at least thirteen people died, including new-born children.

“There was an explosion at the entrance and armed men raided the hospital”, says Marco Puntin. “Violence surrounds you in Afghanistan. This is the reality.”

1,293 civilians were wounded or killed in Kabul during the first quarter of 2020, according to UNAMA. Despite this being the lowest figure since 2012, violence grew considerably during March, and civilian deaths caused by anti-government groups increased by 22% compared to the first four months of 2019.

EMERGENCY has been working in Kabul since 2001. The organisation’s Kabul Surgical Centre admitted 658 war-wounded patients during the first four months of 2020.