Taliban Order Health Centres Not to Treat Women Without a Male Guardian

Photo: Getty Images/BBC

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), in its latest report, says the Taliban have instructed health facilities not to treat women who are unaccompanied by a male guardian (mahram).

UNAMA released its quarterly report on the human rights situation in Afghanistan on Tuesday (28 October).

According to the report, Taliban agents from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice regularly visit medical facilities across the country to check whether “gender segregation, hijab compliance, and the presence of a mahram” are being observed for female patients and female health workers.

UNAMA said that in the provinces of Uruzgan, Kandahar, and Paktika, the Taliban have ordered hospitals and health centres to refuse treatment to women without a mahram.

In Kandahar, officials from the Taliban’s virtue and vice department instructed the provincial health directorate to ensure that all health facilities allow female staff to work only if accompanied by a mahram who must remain with them throughout their working hours.

Taliban vice and virtue agents in Kandahar have also warned dental clinics that male doctors are not allowed to treat female patients and that if they wish to provide services for women, they must hire female doctors; even though the Taliban have banned women from studying medicine and dentistry.