Healthcare system needs overhaul: PDP

KARACHI:

Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) has called for an overhaul of the healthcare delivery system in the country with party chairman Altaf Shakoor saying it should be redesigned to benefit the poor. The party also called for a reduction in the cost of pharmaceutical drugs.

"Medicine prices have increased by 300 per cent," he said adding that doctors' fees and diagnostic test rates have almost doubled. A visit to a medical practitioner visit and prescription costs more than Rs1000, and most people cannot afford it, he emphasised. He said that the country suffered from food insecurity with the poor the worst affected.

He urged the drug regulator to ensure that pharmaceutical companies don't exploit patients. He claimed that doctors prescribe unnecessary drugs to benefit pharmaceutical companies "for the sake of commissions". He lamented the state of government hospitals, saying they lacked decent pharmacies and other services.

"Equipment worth billions of rupees is rotting in various government hospitals as they do not have qualified staff to operate them," he said. Similarly, hundreds of modern ambulance vans are parked at the Civil Hospital Thatta because no trained personnel can drive them.