A Taliban-controlled Afghanistan province has passed a measure banning women from seeing male doctors.
The announcement was made by the Directorate of Public Affairs and Hearing of Taliban Complaints in the Balkh province recently.
According to the Pakistani-based publication The Current, the provincial leadership will also create separate working spaces for male and female hospital workers and prohibit male doctors from walking into rooms with female patients.
Commenting on the impact of the measure, journalist Ashwini Shrivastava tweeted on Sunday, “Taliban issued a new ruling in Balkh province, Afghanistan, stating that women are not allowed to visit male doctors, and, no education to women as well, so no female doctors either”.
In an interview with the Christian Post, Sahar Fetrat of Human Rights Watch, an expert on women’s rights issues and a native of Afghanistan said that while her organization has not yet confirmed these reports, “it doesn’t seem impossible given “the Taliban’s continuous infringement of women’s rights and restriction of women’s access to basic rights and facilities.”
“The Taliban’s nonstop attack on women’s rights has deprived women and girls of education, employment, access to healthcare, and practicing agency, ” Fetrat was quoted as saying.