New Delhi: Unstable country at all stages – including its national politics Afghanistan has received a total of six tons of essential medicines from India. External Affairs (MEA) Ministry of India on Thursday said “India supplied the seventh batch of medical assistance to Afghanistan consisting of six tons of essential medicines as a part of its ongoing humanitarian assistance.”
The MEA in a statement said, “In view of the urgent appeals made by the United Nations to assist the Afghan people, India has, so far, supplied 20 tons of medical assistance in seven batches, which includes essential life-saving medicines, anti-TB medicines, 500,000 doses of COVID vaccine, etc. These medical consignments have been handed over to the World Health Organization(WHO) and Indira Gandhi Children Hospital, Kabul,”
In the view of starvation possibilities in Afghanistan, India has provided food assistance of 35,000 MTs of wheat.
As peace and stability in Afghanistan remained one of the top priorities for India, the New Delhi government has helped the Kabul government immediately after the recent tragic earthquake in a landlocked country. India supplied almost 28 tons of earthquake relief assistance in two relief flights. These relief consignments were handed over to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the UN World Food Program (WFP), and the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS).
The Taliban welcomed India’s decision to return its technical team to continue humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.
“Furthermore, India is in the process to ship more medical and wheat assistance to Afghanistan in coordination with the UN agencies on the ground,” the MEA statement mentioned.
On June 22, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Afghanistan including the capital city Kabul killing over 1000 people across Barmal and Giyan districts in Paktika province and Spera district in Khost province. In addition, at least 1,455 people were injured across three of the six most affected districts of Barmal, Giyan, and Spera – many of them seriously. Over 10,000 houses were destroyed.
In wake of this, India handed over the first consignment on June 23 to support the Afghan nationals affected by the earthquake.
India also deployed a team to the Embassy in Kabul to coordinate the efforts of stakeholders for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Meanwhile, immediate humanitarian assistance was dispatched to affected areas on June 22, including 10 tons of medical supplies sufficient for 5,400 surgeries and medical treatments covering 36,000 people for three months by WHO.
(Vinayak)