Taliban close dozens of pharmacies in Takhar.
In Taloqan city, the capital of Takhar province, dozens of pharmacies have been closed for more than 40 days on the orders of the Taliban Ulema Council and in cooperation with the group’s Public Health Department and Security Command.
Local sources say the Taliban have put severe pressure on pharmacy owners with the aim of monopolizing the medicine market, revoking work permits and selling ready-made licenses at high prices.
This move has put hundreds of young people with degrees in pharmacy and nursing out of work and left patients with a severe shortage of medicine. Local witnesses accuse the Taliban of extortion, abuse of authority and granting operating licenses only to people with intermediaries or bribes.
Currently, about 150 pharmacies in Taloqan remain closed, and many owners have been forced to unload their goods.
This crisis comes at a time when Takhar’s government hospitals have already been facing shortages of medicine, lack of vital equipment, and referrals of patients to private centers for the personal gain of some doctors.
The World Health Organization has also warned that the lack of financial resources could close up to 80 percent of the health centers supported by this organization; a situation that endangers access to essential health services for millions of Afghans.
The closure of the hospitals in Takhar is a clear face of corruption and the Taliban’s political control over the health system, which has both crippled the people’s economy and threatened the lives of patients.
