A patient (L) receives treatment in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, July 19, 2022. Afghanistan's Kandahar Provincial Public Health Directorate with the support of relief agencies opened a 50-bed hospital to treat cholera-affected patients in the southern region on Monday, provincial administration spokesman Hajji Zahid said Tuesday.(Photo: Xinhua)

 

A patient (R) receives treatment in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, July 19, 2022. Afghanistan's Kandahar Provincial Public Health Directorate with the support of relief agencies opened a 50-bed hospital to treat cholera-affected patients in the southern region on Monday, provincial administration spokesman Hajji Zahid said Tuesday.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
Afghanistan's Kandahar Provincial Public Health Directorate with the support of relief agencies opened a 50-bed hospital to treat cholera-affected patients in the southern region on Monday, provincial administration spokesman Hajji Zahid said Tuesday.

The 50-bed treatment center was formally inaugurated in Kandahar's provincial capital, Kandahar city, on Monday in a ceremony attended by provincial government officials and health authorities.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, officials said the disease has been on the rise, and fighting the epidemic requires more health facilities to check it at its earliest.

The opening of the hospital is taking place amid the outbreak of cholera in Kandahar and neighboring Helmand and Zabul provinces. Twenty children lost their lives in Baghran district of Helmand last week, and 180 cholera-affected patients including women and children have been admitted to Mir Wais hospital in Kandahar.

Hot weather, lack of potable water and poor health services, according to medics, could be the main reasons for the outbreak of cholera in Kandahar and its vicinity.