Still making excuses

The health secretary admitted that the government has access to only 55 per cent of Tharparkar.

Nearly a month after the deaths of over 100 children in Tharparkar made it to the news, the government is still making excuses for its dismal performances. Little has changed in the past few weeks. The chief minister still insists that Tharparkar is doing well and that the reported deaths are nothing more than a “conspiracy” to malign the Sindh government. As the government tried to enforce this narrative, the health secretary’s press conference on April 1 was a welcome move since it served to highlight the shortcomings of the government department and gave, in some sense, a hope that some officials in the government may be willing to accept responsibility and take some measures to act accordingly. The secretary admitted that the government has access to only 55 per cent of Tharparkar — a disappointing statistic for the PPP-led government, which claims to be the sole saviour of this province. The official also accepted that the present policies in Tharparkar are only going to yield short-term solutions and there is a need to adopt long-term plans to make sure a similar tragedy does not hit again.

The health official correctly pointed out that lack of infrastructure is the main problem in Tharparkar, an area that is a nightmare for the health department. Doctors are unwilling to serve here, as a result mothers and children are not receiving the required nutrition to survive. We commend the health official on coming clean on what the department has been doing and where it has fallen short. There is now a need to develop a workable strategy that can remove infrastructural barriers to Thar. The Chief Justice of Pakistan’s suggestion to make it mandatory for all medical students to serve, at least, six months in Thar must be considered as a solution. The government can also allocate some of its budget for building hospitals and hiring doctors, by paying them higher salaries and training the existing midwives to make sure mothers and children have medical help available.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2014.

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