Dismal state of govt hospitals

When it comes to world rankings in any sector, Pakistan has hardly ever had anything positive to write home about. The Ranking Web of World Hospitals elucidates that Pakistan’s best public-sector hospital ranks 5,911 in the entire world. It is no wonder then that the country’s leaders run to foreign shores as soon as they need medical treatment; they do not trust the quality of service offered by hospitals run under their own watch. According to this ranking, there are only four public-sector hospitals among Pakistan’s top 20 medical establishments. The country’s best hospital — a privately-operated one — ranks 1,842 in the world. It is a sorry situation for the majority of our citizens, who do not have the expensive option of going abroad for medical treatment and must make do with the local hospital system.

The rankings that have been released are used by international agencies, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) when deciding their grant allocations. With such poor standing and rampant corruption in public-sector health, attracting grants from foreign donors to improve the dilapidated conditions of our hospitals is a tall order indeed. At the same time provincial and federal governments seem to think that our tax money is better spent elsewhere. The latest economic survey shows that the health sector received only 0.45 per cent of GDP during the first nine months of the fiscal year, which is almost unchanged from FY2014-15, when it stood at 0.42 per cent of GDP. According to the World Bank, Pakistan spends $37 (Rs3,873) per capita on health, which is lower than the WHO-prescribed level of $44 per capita (Rs4,606) — the minimum spending package required for essential health services. It is unjust that our public office holders head abroad when they need treatment while millions of impoverished citizens travel hours for subpar treatment at decrepit government hospitals. It is a pity that we have been unable to produce a single world class health institution in Pakistan’s public sector even after almost 70 years of independence. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2016.

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