The World Health Organisation (WHO), through support from the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), has launched a new emergency medical department in Mirwais Regional Hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Mirwais Regional Hospital in Kandahar City is a 600-bed facility serving nearly 2 million people in the Region. Despite this, 357 000 people in the region, which has been extensively affected by conflict, live in an underserved area with little access to health care services, especially outside of the city. The new Emergency Unit aims to serve better the people of Kandahar and the neighbouring Helmand, Zabul and Oruzgan. Mirwais Regional Hospital is also the teaching hospital for Kandahar University's Faculty of Medicine.

The emergency room has a 15-bed capacity, in which WHO has supplied the required medical equipment, including patient beds, patient monitors, suction machines beside cupboards, 2 ventilators, patient mattresses and linen. WHO is also providing medical kits and supplies.