Several local doctors have decided to pay for medical school for three women in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, a war-torn region in the south of the country known to be a Taliban stronghold.

Allison Burton, a hospitalist doctor at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, said the idea came about when hospital staff learned three of their colleagues from Afghanistan were planning to leave the area. Burton and several other St. Joseph physicians wanted to give them a going away present, she said.

We realized this gift could really go a long way, Burton said of the medical school funding.

Burton's brother works for Green Village Schools, a nonprofit which helps build schools and fund health education in Helmand Province. It was an easy fit, Burton said, to join forces with her brother's organization. Seven other St. Joseph physicians wanted to contribute, too.

By American education standards, a medical school degree in Afghanistan is a bargain. A student can attend medical school in Helmand Province for about $150 a month, Burton said. Their contribution to the three women might go toward their tuition, or related items like books and housing, she said.

The ultimate goal is for the students to eventually return to their home villages to practice as the first female physicians there, a press release from the hospital said.

That would be very progressive, said Burton, who attended the Medical College of Georgia. Having

Afghanistan has the third-highest infant mortality rate in the world, according to the World Health Organization. The southerly part of the country, of which Helmand is a part, has just two hospitals, according to Doctors Without Borders. The organization reports the province's children have a chronic problem of malnutrition.

Burton said her brother has been to Afghanistan to meet the three women, all of whom have been accepted into medical school.

Hospital spokeswoman Leslie Broomall said she had never heard of St. Joseph doctors teaming up for such a cause before.

The rest is here:

Reaching out; local doctors fund medical schooling for three Afghan women