KABUL, Nov 13 (BBBC): The Taliban authorities in Afghanistan ordered female patients, caretakers and staff to wear a burka - a full Islamic veil - to enter public health facilities in the western city of Herat, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says.
MSF have said the restrictions came into effect on 5 November causing hospital admissions to drop, although they had since "stabilised".
"[This] may partly be because some women have managed to return to the hospital after obtaining a burka," Sarah Chateau, the agency's programme manager in Afghanistan, told the BBC. "However, we remain concerned [this] could further limit women's access to healthcare." A Taliban government spokesman denied MSF's account.
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Ms Chateau said they remained particularly concerned for those women who are unable to wear a burka when coming to the city's hospital. Even those women "in need of urgent medical care" had been affected, she told the BBC earlier.
MSF, which supports paediatric services at Herat Regional Hospital, said it had observed a 28% drop in admissions of patients whose conditions were urgent during the first few days of the new enforcement.
Ms Chateau said Taliban members had been denying entry to women without the burka by standing at the entrance of the health facilities. A burka is a one-piece veil that covers the face and body, often leaving just a mesh screen to see through.
"Even though the veil edit was announced earlier, this is the first time we are seeing the enforcement of the burka in Herat. In the past few days more and more women are coming to the hospital with burkas."
Since the alarm was raised last week restrictions are reported to have been partially relaxed.
"I visited a few wards of the hospital, saw women in burkas, scarves and hijab," an unnamed local journalist told the BBC on Wednesday. "I have noticed no restrictions on women who were entering the hospital - women were getting to the hospital with all sorts of previously common hijab, including burkas, were at the gate and inside. The situation is normal."
A Taliban spokesperson for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Ministry, which enforces strict religious doctrines, dismissed reports that women were being forced to wear the burka.
