India issues 200 medical visas to Afghans

India has reaffirmed its continued commitment to supporting Afghanistan’s health sector and humanitarian needs during a meeting between Union Health Minister JP Nadda and Afghanistan’s Minister of Public Health, Mawlawi Noor Jalal Jalali.

During the meeting held on Wednesday, both sides reviewed the ongoing health cooperation and discussed avenues to further strengthen collaboration in healthcare infrastructure, medical supplies and capacity building, the Indian health ministry said.

Nadda underlined that guided by India’s long-standing people-centric approach, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always emphasised that India’s engagement with Afghanistan should remain focused on welfare, capacity building and access to critical healthcare services.

He added that India’s assistance to Afghanistan remains guided by humanitarian considerations and the long-standing bonds between the people of the two countries.

India has approved and implemented several key healthcare infrastructure projects in Afghanistan. These include the construction of five maternity and health clinics in the provinces of Paktia, Khost and Paktika, a 30-bed hospital in Kabul, and the construction or upgradation of major facilities such as an oncology centre, trauma centre, diagnostic centre and thalassemia centre in Kabul.

Additional proposals for health sector support are currently under active consideration, the health ministry said. Noting that India has supplied 327 tonnes of medicines and vaccines to Afghanistan over the past four years, Nadda said cancer medicines and one CT scan machine, as requested by the Afghan public health ministry, are ready for dispatch and will be delivered by the end of this month, the statement said. Proposals from the Afghan side for a radiotherapy machine and additional medical supplies are also being processed, it said.

The meeting also discussed capacity-building initiatives. India is working on modalities to send a team of senior doctors to Afghanistan to organise a medical camp and provide training to Afghan doctors, the ministry stated.

The success of the Jaipur Foot Camp organised in Kabul in June, where 75 prosthetic limbs were fitted, was highlighted, with plans to organise more such camps in the coming year.

India reiterated its commitment to providing free treatment in India to Afghan patients suffering from emergency and serious ailments, and to facilitating medical visas, the statement said. Since the launch of the new Afghan visa module in April 2025, more than 500 visas, including over 200 medical visas, have been issued in the last four months. Nadda also recalled India’s broader humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, including the supply of food grains, medicines, vaccines and emergency relief material, as well as support for rehabilitation programmes in partnership with international organisations.