Noor Jallal Jalali, the Taliban’s minister of public health, has traveled to China at a time when the Taliban had just announced medical education for women to be banned across Afghanistan.
Jalali would take part in a bilateral health meeting in China aimed at bolstering up cooperation between the two countries.
Taliban spokesman for the health ministry, Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil called the purpose of the visit to “strengthen bilateral cooperation in the areas of health sectors.”
This comes when the Taliban supreme leader in a fresh decree had banned medical education in Afghanistan, closing the last remaining institutions where women can learn.
Following the announcement, the Afghan female students in medical schools across Afghanistan protest the decision, saying they will stand against this decision.
In one heart-wrenching video circulating in social media, female students in Afghanistan’s Kapisa province weep as a Taliban official announces that they are no longer allowed to continue their studies and orders them to go back home.
The door of education closed to the Afghan women and girls
Despite the closure of universities and schools for girls, they continued to study in private health institutes and were trained in fields such as midwifery, pharmacy, laboratory, x-ray, physiotherapy, nursing and dental prosthetics.
One of the heads of a private medical institution said that they received notice from the ministry of public health to freeze education for the girls. “We were called by the Taliban health officials and read the Taliban supreme leader’s decree and told us that from today on no women and girls are allowed to enter health institutes,” he said without revealing his name.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he told Harici that the health ministry called a number of owners of private health institutions without revealing the agenda of the meeting. “During the meeting, the health officials said that from now on no female should attend medical classes.” He said that most of the students were women and young girls, but from today (Tuesday) they are banned from education.
Taliban health minister visits China to standardize Afghanistan’s healthcare system
He said that the majority of students were women, lamenting on the current situation, he said that girls and women are banned from “last hope” of education. He said that women and girls came to the medical institutes following the ban of schools above six grades, but now this is also banned.
Meanwhile, Robert Dickson, Charge d’Affaires of the UK Mission to Afghanistan, expressed deep concern about new reports that the Taliban will deny medical education to women in Afghanistan.
“This is another affront to women’s right to education and will further restrict access to healthcare for Afghan women and children,” he said.
Taliban spokesman Amarkhil said that minister Jalali is also expected to hold meetings with senior Chinese health officials during his trip.
He put the purpose of the visit to seek “standardize Afghanistan’s healthcare system” and promote comprehensive partnerships with international organizations to address the country’s pressing health needs.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in its recent report said that Taliban policies limiting women’s participation in aid organizations, especially in healthcare, have significantly impacted women’s access to medical services.
