The policy applies to public hospitals in Herat and appears to require women – patients, visitors and doctors – to cover their entire body in a burqa before being admitted.

In the western Afghan city of Herat, female patients, visitors and medical staff are being barred from public hospitals unless they wear the all-encompassing burqa, according to local reports and charity warnings.

The directive – announced on November 5 – marks a sharp escalation in the Taliban’s gender-based restrictions, which activists say are turning the essential healthcare system into a mechanism of control. “Female patients and caretakers are now barred from entering the hospital unless they wear a burqa, meaning that access to care is determined by clothing rather than medical need,” said Doctors Without Borders (MSF) program manager Sarah Chateau.

Burqa Precondition for Medical Services

The policy applies to public hospitals in Herat and appears to require women – patients, visitors and doctors – to cover their entire body in a burqa before being admitted. One woman, speaking anonymously, told reporters she was forced to spend the equivalent of about US $20 to buy a burqa simply to visit a hospital.

The regional Directorate for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Herat claims no formal directive exists. But hospital staff and eyewitnesses say the enforcement is already under way.

New Crackdown Amid Rights Concerns

The incident of a female surgeon being detained – and later released – has catalysed indignation among local health-professionals and women’s rights advocates. The doctor, identified as Dr Shabnam Fazli, was taken into custody by Taliban officials near the Herat Regional Hospital. Her husband later publicly confirmed the detention.

In another case, a pregnant woman who had undergone two previous caesarean sections was denied entry to a maternity hospital because she was not wearing a burqa. She reportedly experienced complications and was transferred via rickshaw to another facility – by then her unborn child had died from lack of oxygen and internal bleeding. The woman remains in intensive care.

Healthcare professionals say the enforcement of such dress codes is undermining the most basic medical ethics: “When access to healthcare becomes conditional on what a woman wears, lives are lost,” one doctor told Amu TV on condition of anonymity.

Alarms as Critical Access Plummets

MSF reports that admissions of female patients at Herat Regional Hospital have dropped by 28 per cent since the policy took effect. A serious concern for women and children already facing high barriers to care. The charity warned that every new restriction on women in healthcare carries “severe consequences” for mothers and children in Afghanistan.

Since re-taking power in 2021, the Taliban has gradually imposed a sweeping set of gender restrictions – including bans on most female employment, higher education and public mobility without a male guardian. This latest move – in effect making the burqa mandatory for accessing hospitals – raises concerns among international observers that the regime is weaponising healthcare access to reinforce social control.

Dangerous Consequences of Enforcement

Women in Herat say they experience harassment and intimidation if they appear outside without the burqa, and in some cases they report threats of arrest or worse if they don’t comply. The regime’s morality police have been seen enforcing the burqa requirement at major public hospitals and clinics in the city of approximately 600,000.

The cultural shift is stark: many Afghan women, especially in urban areas, previously wore loose headscarves that only covered hair. The burqa and full-body coverings were not widely seen before the Taliban’s return.

Human-rights groups say the dress code policy transforms healthcare into a privilege contingent on compliance with the regime’s interpretation of religious dress. It effectively prioritises ideology over life-saving medical services.

Authorities have not yet made clear whether this policy will be extended nationwide or remain confined to Herat. But given the speed of enforcement in Herat, health-rights observers fear it may spread to other provinces, increasing the already substantial barriers female Afghans face in accessing care.

The combination of dress-code enforcement, detention of female medical professionals and the tangible drop in hospital admissions underscores a broader message from the Taliban: women’s presence in public – and their access to critical services – depends on strict adherence to gender-based rules, even if these rules mean the difference between life and death.