BAMYAN - A foundation laying ceremony was held over the weekend in the provincial centre of Bamyan for construction of a new hospital, which aims to boost women’s access to healthcare in Afghanistan's central highlands region.

Scheduled to be completed in two years, the hospital “will offer 86 beds for pediatric, obstetric and gynecologic care in a region where women’s access to healthcare has been severely limited,” according to the Aga Khan Health Service (AKHS), a non-government organization that will manage the hospital.

The additional bed capacity will beef up the present 100-bed capacity of the Bamyan Provincial Hospital that has been managed by AKHS since 2004. Situated close to the foot of the small Buddha cavern north of the Bamyan centre, the present hospital evolved from a 35-bed district hospital to a 100-bed hospital in nine years.

The new hospital will stand on 6.4 acres of land at Mullah Ghulam in Bamyan centre, with funding support from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and with land provided by the Bamyan Municipality.

“The new hospital will be constructed under the CIDA-funded programme ‘Improving Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Afghanistan’ which is implemented by AKDN (Aga Khan Development Network),” according to an AKHS press release.

The foundation laying programme was attended by Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Health, Ahmad Jan, AKDN representatives and Bamyan provincial officials led by Provincial Governor Dr. Habiba Sarabi who noted that the present hospital bed-capacity “is no longer enough” to respond to health needs of the Bamyan people.