The Journey:

Intezar’s journey began as he tried to seek answers to his health problems, reading through every book he could and searching through every online article. He seemed to always be sick, developing fevers often. In search of a diagnosis, Intezar traveled to Pakistan. There, doctors told Intezar they couldn’t determine what he had, and ultimately prescribed him antimalarial antibiotics though he had not been diagnosed with malaria.

Over time, Intezar’s condition became increasingly worse. His fever never went away, he became severely anemic and unhealthily thin. Finally, based on the recommendation of a relative, who is also a staff member of Afshar, Intezar’s family decided to take Intezar to Afshar Hospital. This was a 150 mile trip from their home in Jalalabad province to Kabul, Afghanistan.

Upon arriving, Intezar was immediately seen by Dr. Awab and Dr. Sadat. During the examination, Dr. Awab found a heart murmur [an unusual sound heard during a heartbeat] and decided to investigate further.

After taking a blood culture, a test to find bacteria in the blood, doctors diagnosed Intezar with infective endocarditis. Endocarditis is caused by a bacterial infection, which leads to an infected mass called a “vegetation”. The bacteria enters the bloodstream and can settle in either the heart lining, a heart valve, or a blood vessel. To eliminate the infection, Intezar was immediately placed on IV antibiotics.  Antibiotic treatment this way is much stronger than what a person can take with pills.

Intezar stayed at Afshar Hospital for two weeks before being referred to Rahman Medical Institute, a well-known cardiac center in Pakistan. There, doctors concluded that he had been perfectly treated at Afshar Hospital and that they had no further recommendations. Intezar continued the antibiotic treatments at Afshar Hospital and after one month, the inflammation began to decrease.

Hope Regained:

Six weeks after Intezar was admitted, Dr. Sadat gave Intezar great news. The mass had disappeared and the infections were gone. Intezar was asymptomatic, however, he still needed an additional week of antibiotics treatment.

Like many others who have been treated at Afshar Hospital, Intezar left with a great sense of gratitude. He considers himself and other Afghans extremely lucky to have a place like Afshar Hospital where doctors and staff bring hope to patients through the healing they provide and the lives they save.

When asked what his hope for his future is, Intezar responded by saying, “I will be kind with people, especially sick ones and will help them because I had a very bad condition and because of Afshar Hospital physicians, now I am completely ok.”

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