Afghan doctors are not allowed to treat women

Women in Afghanistan are apparently having increasing problems getting medical examinations. This is reported by the Guardian.

While there is no publicly announced restriction prohibiting doctors from treating women, such a ban appears to have become widespread across the country, according to media reports and interviews with women and doctors conducted by The Guardian and Zan Times.

Accordingly, male doctors in several areas of the country have received instructions from the Taliban that they are not allowed to examine female patients. The doctors told the Guardian that they are not allowed to examine patients or provide emergency medical care. This is only possible under certain conditions, for example in the presence of the patient's male guardian (mahram) or if certain procedures are carried out by female nursing staff.

Since December 2024, women have no longer been allowed to study at medical universities. Since then, doctors in hospitals are no longer allowed to employ female staff. Since then, the Taliban have required female doctors to have a mahram with them during their work.

Dentists told newspapers that this requirement was being enforced by Taliban security forces, with raids and warnings to male dentists that they would be imprisoned if female patients were found in their practices.

Things are said to be particularly absurd in the Balkh province in northern Afghanistan: according to the Guardian, doctors there are forbidden to call patients by their actual names. Officials there are said to have ordered hospitals, private practices and clinics to use the word “Bibi” instead of the women’s names. This is considered a respectful form of address for older women. Even on medical prescriptions the woman's name cannot be read, only "Bibi".