RASC News Agency: The Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health has initiated the recruitment of clerics and preachers under its Invitation and Guidance program, with multiple positions announced across healthcare centers. In Kabul alone, 11 such posts have been advertised for district-level healthcare facilities. Healthcare staff have reported increased restrictions imposed by Taliban officials, disrupting daily medical operations. A staff member from Kabul’s Ali Abad Hospital, speaking anonymously to RASC News Agency, revealed: “Taliban officials have imposed numerous constraints on doctors, even compelling them to abandon surgeries for prayer sessions.”
Taliban representatives frequently patrol hospital departments, summoning doctors to prayer and, at times, halting ongoing treatments. Reports indicate that clerics have also been assigned to facilities like addiction treatment centers, where they enforce religious practices. The advertised positions are reportedly reserved for clerics, specifically mullahs, aligning with the Taliban’s broader agenda of embedding religious oversight into public institutions. Following the enactment of the Taliban’s Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice law, significant restrictions have been imposed on citizens, including healthcare workers. Notably, women have been barred from working in healthcare facilities, further exacerbating an already dire shortage of professional medical staff, particularly female doctors.
The Taliban’s prohibition on women’s education has compounded the crisis, casting a long shadow over Afghanistan’s healthcare sector, which faces an imminent collapse due to the lack of qualified personnel. This strategy mirrors previous Taliban actions, such as appointing clerics and religious figures in universities and establishing Invitation and Guidance offices across government agencies. These offices are tasked with monitoring employees’ adherence to Taliban-prescribed dress codes and ideological compliance.
Healthcare workers have repeatedly voiced their concerns about these restrictions, warning that they are hampering medical services and exacerbating operational inefficiencies. Despite widespread grievances, the Taliban continues to intensify its control, pushing Afghanistan’s fragile healthcare system closer to the brink.
