The closing of the hospital will leave not only the residents of Kunduz, but also those of neighboring districts and provinces, with scant medical care. It was the only free trauma care hospital in northern Afghanistan, according to Doctors Without Borders. The group said that in 2014 more than 22,000 patients received treatment at the hospital and more than 5,900 surgical procedures were performed.

Trauma care is a much needed specialty in Kunduz, which has been plagued by intense fighting for at least the past six years. The medical staff regularly treated gunshot and shrapnel wounds and traumatic injuries caused by bombs. In 2009, the hospital treated scores of people wounded when a convoy carrying fuel to the north was hit by an airstrike called in by the German commander in the region; 142 people died in the strike.

The medical workers were overstretched in recent days, caring for nearly 400 people between Monday, when the Taliban occupied Kunduz, and the early hours of Saturday when the airstrike hit. The doctors and nurses said they cared for any wounded person, regardless of which side of the conflict.

With that hospital closed and the regional hospital bereft of staff, the wounded will have to find their way to hospitals in neighboring provinces. While there are a few clinics in Kunduz, they are not equipped to do surgery or handle the severe wounds inflicted by bombs, mortars and missiles.

Getting to the hospitals in neighboring Takhar Province or in Baghlan Province can take as long as two hours on a good day. Now, with Taliban and Afghan security checkpoints, it seems all but certain that some victims will not reach medical help in time for doctors to save them.