Prioritising the healthcare sector

Paramedics have been protesting throughout the past week in Lahore and at long last the provincial government has promised to deliver on its promises. The paramedics have been demanding that the government provide a service structure for them for several years now, and finally, after a string of broken promises, they resorted to boycotting the polio immunisation campaign.

This had an impact on the Punjab government and the DG Health reassured the paramedics that demands of the protesters would be met as promised by the government in 2011. But sections in the paramedics community fear that the government will once again sweep the matter under the rug, as it has been doing for the past several years. They say that promises, notifications and delays have become a routine matter and this has been continuing for years. Last week, the Health Department accepted the demands of protesting paramedics after the increasing pressure caused by delays in the polio campaign in the city. Pakistan is one of the two countries where polio still exists and without health workers, this campaign cannot succeed. It is beyond comprehension as to why the government is not providing basic job security to paramedics and health workers. It is not an unreasonable demand and government officials at all levels, including Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, have acknowledged this. Yet paramedics have been waiting for its implementation.

The paramedics, after reaching an agreement with the DG Health, said that if the government did not keep its promise this time, they would increase the intensity of their protests. As paramedics held their daily protests and left their jobs, the already-weak health infrastructure took a hit. Their regular protests have had an effect on health services in the provincial capital and as a result patients were the ones who suffered.

The government needs to understand that without skilled workers, such as paramedics, no improvement can be brought to the health sector no matter how much money is pumped into new projects. It seems that the Punjab government is not taking healthcare as a serious concern and taking decisions only when things get out of hand has become the norm. The same has been the case with the dengue control programme this year and the deaths of children from diphtheria. All of this, along with the condition of hospitals, point to a lack of seriousness on part of the government. The government needs to wake up from its slumber and take healthcare seriously; otherwise the health sector in Punjab would further deteriorate.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2015.