KABUL - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has come under serious criticism after America's federal watchdog found out that the agency provided "inaccurate" data about the location of nearly two dozen health facilities in Afghanistan's western zone.

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction's (SIGAR) inspection of the $259.6 million Partnership Contracts for Health (PCH) program has found "substantial inaccuracies" in the GPS coordinates USAID provided for 23 of the 63 healthcare facilities it was funding in Herat province.

The inspection has revealed that the location of the 23 facilities were up to 6 miles from the GPS coordinates provided by USAID - seven were more than three miles from the coordinates and 16 that were located less than three miles from the provided location data, the inspector general John Sopko said in a letter to the agency a week ago.

SIGAR stated that it could determine that only 19 facilities actually existed of the remaining 40 medical centers it examined.

Furthermore, SIGAR also pointed out issues with the conditions of some of the facilities their inspection teams visited.

It noted that four of the 23 clinics lack water or electricity. The watchdog however could not visit remaining facilities due to "security conditions."

But the Afghan health officials say that they had neither any role in building these healthcare facilities nor will they be responsible for any flaws.

"Government offices in Herat had no role in building these facilities and if there is a corruption found in the program, the foreigners should account for it," said Mohammad Asif Kabir, acting health director of Herat.

Herat governor's spokesman, meanwhile, called on the central government and the Ministry of Public Health to follow up the issue.

This comes after the watchdog revealed about "ghost" schools, teachers and also the health clinics in Afghanistan which it reported only existed on fake documents. (Tolonews)