Healthcare and basic medical facilities should be a right for all citizens.
SHIKARPUR: A few days ago, a man and a woman carrying a child were crying helplessly outside a hospital in Shikarpur. The way they were weeping seemed as if they had already lost everything. In that moment their tears could have melted a mountain and, therefore, curious as ever, I could not help but ask them what had happened.
Their child was a patient of thalassemia and his condition was gradually worsening in the hospital. The doctors kept on assuring them that there was nothing to worry about but only two days later the parents were told to take the child to Larkana in an ambulance as nothing could be done there. The problem was that they were asked to pay Rs2,000 for the ambulance, a sum they couldn’t afford at the time. It seems that humanity remains inferior because the power and lust for money has replaced the essence of what it means to be human.
After witnessing this depressing ordeal, I have no choice but to raise my voice and urge the authorities concerned to look into this matter. Healthcare and basic medical facilities should be a right for all citizens. All hospitals need to be properly equipped with the technology and doctors need to save human lives. Else, what is the point of it all.
Yasir Baz Muhammad Brohi
Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2020.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
