Dying for want of treatment

That healthcare system in Pakistan is in a shambles is an understatement. In fact, it is non-existent - for an overwhelming majority of the people. Even Karachi, the financial capital of the country, is nothing much to write home about in the context of healthcare facilities. Just visit the emergency ward of the biggest government-run hospital of this biggest city of the country. A fish market is quieter, calmer and more disciplined than this critical care facility. Literally! The other so-called major public hospitals are no different, if not worse - marked by overcrowded and filthy wards and OPDs, unfriendly and inattentive doctors and paramedical staff, unsafe clinical facilities, outdated diagnostic machines and other equipment, drugless pharmacies, etc.

There is an alternative - the private hospitals. But that is a no-go zone for a big segment of the population that comprises the working class and the lower-middle class. Those in the middle class too can hardly afford the huge cost of treatment even at the second tier private health facilities - let alone the major, reliable ones that are only designed for the upper class. For all others, an unavoidable treatment at a good private hospital does not come without costing them their valuable belongings.

It's about time the policymakers paid an urgent and serious attention to healthcare service delivery in the country and went for a complete overhaul of the healthcare system - to save people from dying just for want of medical treatment. There is need to allocate proper funds in provincial budgets - now that health is a provincial subject in the wake of the 18th constitutional amendment - to improve the existing healthcare facilities and set up new ones in big numbers across the country.