Amid the rapid transfer of power in Afghanistan, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) continues to run medical activities in five provinces across the country.

In Lashkar Gah, the situation is now calm, but there remains some anxiety and uncertainty. People who delayed getting medical help while there was active fighting are now coming to the MSF-supported Boost provincial hospital in southern Afghanistan.

As a result, over the past few days, the emergency room has been full, with many people suffering from respiratory and gastrointestinal problems, and trauma-related injuries as a result of the fighting and also road traffic accidents.

Between 15 and 21 August, over 3,600 patients received consultations in the emergency room and 415 were admitted to hospital.

Here, a medic working at Boost hospital shares their experience:

On 1 August I came to the Boost provincial hospital in Lashkar Gah and spent 13 days working there. The medical needs were very high; we received a lot of patients wounded in the fighting.

After the fighting ended on 13 August, we stopped hearing the heavy sounds of airstrikes, rockets and mortars.

The roads in the city and in the surrounding districts are open and people are, once again, coming to the hospital. Patient numbers have increased tremendously.

Over the last week or so, we are receiving over 700 patients a day in our emergency room, sometimes more than 800.

On 21 August we treated 862 people in our emergency room, which I think is the most we’ve ever received. Some patients are coming in critical conditions because they waited until the fighting had stopped.

They are waiting a long time in the emergency room, while we try to find space. We have two patients to a bed in the paediatric ward, but we are still struggling to find room for everyone.

Read the full article about overcrowded clinics in Afghanistan at Doctors without Borders.