Red Cross set to end funding at 25 hospitals in Afghanistan

Amanullah, 25, who lost a leg in a mine blast in Helmand, sits at the Red Cross rehabilitation center in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 9, 2022. Picture taken April 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ali Khara/File Photo

(Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is likely to end the financial running of 25 Afghan hospitals by the end of August due to funding constraints, a spokesperson told Reuters, amid growing concerns over a plunge in aid to Afghanistan.

"Although we continue to engage with government ministries, donors, and organisations to find alternative sustainable support mechanisms for the hospital sector, the phase-out of the Hospital Program is expected to happen tentatively at the end of August," Diogo Alcantara, ICRC's spokesperson for Afghanistan, told Reuters on Thursday.