The Taliban has begun enforcing a ban on women entering healthcare facilities unless they comply with their order to dress in a burqa, a full Islamic veil, in the city of Herat, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced earlier this month.
The restriction on female patients and staff came into effect on November 5, causing a temporary drop in hospital admissions.
"[This] may partly be because some women have managed to return to the hospital after obtaining a burqa," Sarah Chateau, the agency's program manager in Afghanistan, told the BBC. "However, we remain concerned [this] could further limit women's access to healthcare."
While the Taliban denied the claim, Chateau said she worried about the impact it would have in emergency situations, where women would not have time to dress in a burqa due to a medical emergency.
"Even though the veil edit was announced earlier, this is the first time we are seeing the enforcement of the burqa in Herat. In the past few days more and more women are coming to the hospital with burqas,” she said, while claiming Taliban authorities were standing at the entrance of hospitals and denying entry to those without a burqa.
"I visited a few wards of the hospital, saw women in burqas, scarves and hijab," an unnamed local journalist told the BBC on Wednesday. "I have noticed no restrictions on women who were entering the hospital - women were getting to the hospital with all sorts of previously common hijab, including burqas, were at the gate and inside. The situation is normal."
Women left in rubble after Afghanistan earthquake
The restrictions on women and concern for the impact the Taliban’s gendered laws materialized after a deadly earthquake struck the country in October. The Taliban prevented female UN aid workers from working in the country, diminishing the rescue effort’s manpower. However, the country’s terrorist government did eventually allow the aid workers to carry out rescues, while continuing to bar them from office work.
In some cases, according to NPR, female victims of the earthquake were left unattended for hours until the short supply of female rescuers could be diverted to their care. Many male relatives of female victims also prevented them from receiving immediate care, volunteer Omid Haqjo told the site.
"They were very strict and did not allow us to even see the wounded," Haqjo, who hiked nine hours to volunteer in the Mazar Dara Valley, said.