The Deplorable State of affairs of our Public Health Sector

Health and education are by far one of the most important elements of a country’s infrastructure. For a country that claims to be a welfare state, health and education are of an even greater priority. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, with a population of over 160 million people, living in thousands of villages in hundreds of districts of the four provinces, has a health care system that is in shambles.

Pakistan’s share of GDP allocated to the health sector, as of the budget of the fiscal year 2009-2010, is less than one percent. By the share of GDP that countries allocate to the health sector, Pakistan’s rank is, embarrassingly, 171^st. The health sector in Pakistan is in a dilapidated condition, worsening year after year, and this isn’t just mere speculation, but a hard fact. The government of Pakistan had allocated Rs. 23 billion for the federal health budget in the fiscal year 2009-2010, and has allocated Rs. 18.80 billion for the year 2010-2011. With an increasing population and almost a mere 65 public hospitals to cater to it, the situation looks pretty grim. A personal experience of Civil Hospital, Karachi changed speculation into certainty where there was a sheer lack of medicines, beds, bed sheets, electronic equipment, drugs and space for patients. Basic medical needs such as sterile syringes, I.Vs, pain relievers, medicines for fever and diarrhea were extremely scarce. When one stepped inside the Pediatrics ward, one could see that there was no space for parents of the patient child to sit, and were forced to sit on the same bed their child lay. Antibiotics that were expensive but vital for a child’s treatment took ages to acquire if the concerned parents did not have enough means to purchase it themselves.

This is a safe assumption, that if such is the state of public hospitals in a booming metropolis such as Karachi, the state of affairs in the public hospitals in the interior areas will be far worse. If proper steps are not taken to alleviate this crisis in the making, then the fallout shall be extensive and far reaching.