IEA makes first senior female appointment

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) Ministry of Public Health has announced that Dr Malalai Faizi has been appointed director of Malalai Maternity Hospital in Kabul.

While the heads of maternity hospitals in Afghanistan have always been women, Faizi is the first high-ranking female to be appointed to a public position in the past six months.

The appointment of a woman to this position by the IEA’s Ministry of Health has sparked widespread reaction in the past few days.

Following the takeover of Afghanistan, the IEA stopped women from going to work, with the exception of a few government departments, including the health sector, and closed the gates of secondary and high schools to girls.

Zarifa Ghaffari, the former mayor of Maidan Wardak, wrote in a Twitter message that although the head of a women’s hospital should be a woman, it is great to hear about Faizi’s appointment.

Faizi graduated from the University of Medical Sciences and has worked in various hospitals and institutions in the past 15 years, especially in specialized departments for infant and maternal health.