" We are motivated by the intense desire for education by Afghan people of all ages, including children, and the rampant optimism in Afghanistan" -R. Gordon

Overview

Please click here (PDF, 1.5 MB) to view a report by Dr. Cheragh Ali, Chancellor of the Kabul Medical Institute, on the state of medical schools in Afghanistan as of 2004.

Excerpts from the presentation are as follows:

1. Due to civil war in 1992-1993 in Kabul, the infrastructure of the Kabul Medical Institute has been destroyed and all the lab equipment, teaching aids, books, furniture, and the printing house have been looted.
2. Student enrollment was not only through entrance examination, but through different channels and fake documents
3. Some faculties/teachers also have been employed without following academic norms & regulations by recommendations letters from the authorities.
4. There is not a printing press in any of these schools. As mentioned before, [the] very advanced and modern printing press of Kabul Medical Institute was unfortunately looted and destroyed in 1992-1993.
5. The situation in other medical schools is worse than Kabul, most of them are facing [a] lack of qualified teachers. [One] teacher is teaching 2-3 disciplines, [and there are] no lab facilities in any of them, except in Jalalabad.
   

Current Priorities

For the Spring Semester, 2006, we hope to accomplish the following:

1. Core dental books for Kabul Medical Institute by Dental Students, U. Manitoba (contact Gurinder Kler)
2. Core medical library for Herat University by Medical Students, U. Toronto (contact Salikah Iqbal)
3. Core medical library for Kandahar University by Medical Students, U. Manitoba (contact Jodie Brown)
4. Nursing & midwifery books for Kabul Nursing School & Kandahar Nursing School by Nursing Students, U. Manitoba (contact Marilyn Seguire)

Next year we hope to provide books for more regional medical schools in Afghanistan. Contact Richard Gordon if you’d like to help out.

The following bookplate appears in all books processed so far in Manitoba: