I found out about the attack on the MSF hospital in Dasht-e-Barchi in the most mundane of ways—a WhatsApp message—a screenshot of a Twitter post, sent to me by Jacqui, my MSF sister. I met her during my stint in the project four years ago and I continue to talk with her daily.
I watched from the other side of the world in real time. The attackers targeted pregnant and new mothers deliberately and systematically. I was terrified for the MSF staff, the babies and the mothers.
What I keep on coming back to is how sad I am for what we had built. Six years ago, MSF opened the 55-bed maternity hospital in Dasht-e-Barchi. In 2019, MSF had seven projects in six provinces of the country and undertook more than 100,000 outpatient consultations, assisted more than 60,000 deliveries and performed almost 10,000 surgical interventions. This year, hospital staff have supported 5,401 deliveries in Dasht-e-Barchi alone.