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Tonnes of medical supplies stuck due to Kabul airport restrictions: WHO

Tonnes of medical supplies stuck due to Kabul airport restrictions: WHO

Afghanistan

World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday that more than 500 tonnes of medical supplies are stuck because of Kabul airport restrictions. Itincludes surgical equipment and kits to alleviate severe malnutrition.

The UN agency said it was critical that medical and food supplies reach about 300,000 people displaced in Afghanistan over past two months.

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Nearly 18.5 million people - half the population - rely on aid and the humanitarian needs are expected to grow due to drought. But the closure of Kabul airport to commercial flights has held up deliveries, WHO regional emergency director DrRichard Brennan told Reuters.

"While the eyes of the world now are on the people being evacuated and the planes leaving, we need to get supplies in to help those who are left behind," Brennan said in an emailed statement.

He said that WHO was calling for empty planes to divert to its warehouse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to collect the supplies on their way to pick up evacuees from the country.

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The WHO is also looking at setting up a "humanitarian air bridge" to send in supplies, Brennan added.

The executive director of the UN children's agency UNICEF, Henrietta Fore, said on Monday around 10 million children across Afghanistan need humanitarian assistance and that conditions are expected to deteriorate further.

(With inputs from agencies)