Afghanistan’s Minister of Public Health, Mawlawi Noor Jalal Jalali, briefed the media after returning from an official visit to India, outlining the aims and outcomes of the trip

He said the visit marked a new phase in health cooperation between Afghanistan and India, focusing on strengthening bilateral ties, preventing medicine shortages, improving standards in traditional medicine, importing affordable quality drugs, training health workers, and improving treatment access for Afghan patients in India.

His Excellency Jalali said India pledged support including vaccines worth five million dollars, a three-million-dollar radiotherapy machine for cancer treatment, cancer medicines valued at one million dollars, a CT scan machine worth 300,000 dollars, and funding of 500,000 dollars for a hospital and a specialised thalassaemia centre.

He added that further outcomes included training programmes for health staff, the donation of 70,000 ampoules by an Afghan investor, plans for a traditional medicine research centre in Kabul, the import of quality medicines, health-sector investment, and other forms of assistance.