President Ashraf Ghani signed three agreements totalling $23.95 million financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to construct hospitals and procure essential supplies to support the national Coronavirus response.
The agreement was signed by acting Minister of Public Health Ahmad Javad Osmani and representatives of the Housing Construction Corporation, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization (WHO) at a ceremony in Kabul on Wednesday.
The support is part of ADB’s Emergency Assistance for COVID-19 Pandemic Response for Afghanistan programme.
“The agreements signed today will help construct hospitals in the high-priority provinces and address the immediate need for medicines and medical equipment to treat the affected population and improve health services across the country,” said ADB Country Director for Afghanistan Narendra Singru.
“The support is part of an integrated approach to improving patient treatment and management to support the government’s response to COVID-19.”
Ghani expressed his appreciation for ADB’s swift response and highlighted the importance of the support in helping the country to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. He also said the treatment facilities will be completed within six months.
“We should not neglect the second wave of the Coronavirus and shall move forward upon learned lessons of the past,” the president added.
The project will construct 10 hospitals equipped with isolation wards and intensive care units, adding 750 new hospital beds.
