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“About 500 patients have come to the clinic since morning, 200 have died,” said Nurse Muhammad Gul, a staff member at the Gyan Clinic in eastern Afghanistan.
The clinic has only five beds, but after Tuesday’s earthquake all of its poor resources have become unusable.
“All the rooms have been destroyed,” Gul told the BBC.
He adds that a helicopter has sent a small number of patients from the remote Paktika province to the cities for treatment, while two doctors remain in the open clinic to treat people who have nowhere else to go.
A generator that supplies electricity has only a limited fuel tank and the help promised by other provinces has not yet become a reality.
“There are dozens of people who need medical help, many will not be able to survive the night.”
The quake hit poor hilly areas with weak buildings that could not withstand the quake.
Hundreds of homes were destroyed and several landslides were recorded.
Gyan is one of the hardest hit areas and many people are believed to still be trapped under the rubble.
The clinic here was set up by an international agency two years ago.
It treats only minor concerns or refers people to the hospital for more serious treatments and has no emergency department or trauma.
Since the Taliban came to power last August, the medical system has been short of supplies and staff, writes the British network BBC.
But even before the arrival of the Taliban the medical services in the country had limited capabilities to respond to disasters.
Some of the children who came to the clinic after the quake were without their parents, including an eight-year-old boy.
“He begged us to go and help his parents and brothers who were trapped in the rubble of the house,” the doctor said.
“Then he heard someone say they were all dead and started crying and screaming until he lost consciousness.”
Images published by the BBC showed people with open wounds and dead bodies on the floor.
People from nearby areas have come to the province to help with rescue efforts.
A volunteer from the neighboring town of Urgun who was helping to evacuate the people said that since the morning he had found 40 dead bodies, among them quite a few children.
But even for those who managed to come out alive, the near future looks pretty rough.
“We have no water to clean and it is very hot,” said one of the doctors. “Infections can spread quickly.”
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