Our Surgical Centre in Lashkar-Gah is Now Saturated.

We are on the sixth consecutive night of fighting in Helmand.
The fighting that has erupted as a result of an attempted advance by the Taliban in Helmand province continues.

Our Surgical Centre for War Victims in Lashkar-Gah is now saturated. We have already added emergency beds and now are only able to admit the most seriously injured patients, while referring those with minor injuries to other hospitals.”

This is what Marco Puntin our Programme Coordinator in Afghanistan wrote to us.

Fighting had already intensified before this new advance: since the beginning of the month we had already received around 200 war-wounded patients.

But since Sunday, the situation has deteriorated even further.

Civilians are paying the price for this offensive, trapped by the crossfire and often hit by mortars, rockets and grenades.

Most of the patients we are currently admitting to the hospital suffer complicated injuries, which require complex surgery and a long hospital stay.

All the main roads connecting the city of Lashkar-Gah to the rest of the country are blocked, and telephone communications with the area are extremely difficult. UNAMA estimates that around 35,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.

The gap between the raised hopes of the peace negotiations in Doha and the harrowing daily reality of those who have seen their lives destroyed by fighting is ABYSMAL.

Picture by Mathieu Wilcocks.