Health goals

Pakistan continues to struggle to meet the health care needs of its people. Despite an increase in the health budget from 0.27 per cent of GDP in 2011-12 to 0.35 in 2012-13, little substantial difference has been made on the ground, mainly — according to the new Economic Survey — due to the poor utilisation of funds. The population growth in the country, along with rapid urbanisation, is also putting a strain on the health infrastructure, which statistics show is among the least efficient in South Asia. This is tied into the fact that Pakistan’s spending on health remains amongst the lowest in the world, despite the nominal increase we saw last year. It may be noted here that after the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, health is mainly a provincial subject and that is where most of the budgetary allocations for it come from.

In Pakistan, while there has been an increase in the number of doctors, the overall ratio of one doctor for every 1,127 people remains low. The country stands sixth on the list of 22 countries in the world with a high burden of disease. Our problems with preventing disease through vaccination, the provision of safe drinking water, etc. are well established. Pakistan may also fail to meet its Millennium Development Goals for 2015, under which the infant mortality rate has to be brought down from the present 59 deaths per 1,000 live births to 40, the under-five mortality rate from 72 deaths per 1,000 live births to 52 and maternal mortality from 260 per 100,000 live births to 140.

There is, in other words, a lot to do. Pakistan lags far behind other developing countries — and that is sad. We need to push ourselves forward and recognise that health care is an essential right. This right is being denied to too many people and things can change only if greater commitment is shown to this sector, both in the form of more funds and policies, aimed at ensuring citizens receive the care they deserve.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2013.

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