Ahmed*, 31, lies in his hospital bed as a relative looks on. A farmer in Kunduz, Ahmed suffered serious abdominal and leg injuries after setting off a hidden explosive in his field.
Before the opening of the MSF surgical hospital in Kunduz Province, northern Afghanistan, people in the region suffering from severe injuries had two options. They made the long and dangerous journey to Kabul or Pakistan, or they visited an expensive private clinic. As a result, few patients received the trauma care they needed.
In less than a year, the MSF trauma center, equipped with an emergency room, two operating theaters, and an intensive care unit, has seen more than 3,700 patients. The majority are victims of so-called “general trauma”—road traffic accidents, domestic violence, or civilian gunshot wounds.
More photos: Trauma Care Where There Was None in Northern Afghanistan
*All patients’ names have been changed.
Photos: Afghanistan 2012 © Michael Goldfarb/MSF
An anti-government protester walks towards riot police, holding stones in her hands, during a protest asking for the release of human rights activists Nabeel Rajab and Zaynab al-Khawaja in the village of Sanabis west of Manama, Bahrain, May 16, 2012.
[Credit : Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters]
A man at a Sufi shrine in Multan, Pakistan.
Photograph by Aaron Huey
(via fuckyeahmiddleeast)