QALAT, Afghanistan, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Afghan authorities have constructed and opened a 30-bed hospital in Qalat city, the provincial capital of the southern Zabul province, on Wednesday, provincial director Mir Wais Afghan said Friday.
Constructed at a cost of 300,000 U.S. dollars, the health center will provide health services to some 200,000 people in the war-ravaged Zabul province, the official said.
Like other parts of Afghanistan, the southern Zabul province had suffered during decades of war and unrest.
The Afghan caretaker government in a similar initiative constructed and opened a 30-bed hospital in the eastern Logar province last week.
In efforts to enhance healthcare services in post-war Afghanistan, the country's Ministry of Public Health has planned to construct 318 general hospitals in each district of the country. ■