PHOTO: REUTERS/Ina Fassbender
She was speaking on the policy, system responses and charter of demands for health and nutrition in the province during the consultative meeting on improvable areas of health and nutrition in Sindh.
The event, which was organised by Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO), was held at Hotel Mehran on Monday. Rakhsani also said that there is a dearth of good leadership, governance and accountability in Sindh's health sector. It is unfortunate that regardless of spending money we have failed to give proper services to the citizens, expressed health minister Sikandar Mandhro during the event.
There are around 2,000 hospitals along with thousands of paramedical staff but still a lot needs to be done, he remarked. The government should focus more on the health and education departments than others, he added.
Mandhro also shared that ever since he took charge of the ministry he has visited many hospitals and observed that hospital's pharmacies are stocked with medicines but these are not available to the patients. The patients have no other option than to purchase medicines from medical stores outside the hospitals.
In the province, it is tough for infants to survive due to the lack of effective basic health facilities for mothers and children, said SPO, Karachi regional head Elahi Bakhsh Baloch. The main objective of the event is to initiate dialogue and discourses on health and nutrition and formulate recommendations for the government, he added.
Speaking about nutrition, SPO, Hyderabad programme specialist Wahid Sangrasi informed that statistics revealed that 71% of Sindh is facing food insecurity and has crossed the threshold after which emergency humanitarian response should be implemented.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 25th, 2016.
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