As per the census of the year 2017, the population of Islamic Republic of Pakistan has raised up to 197.5 million which is 2.62% of total world’s population. On September 18th, 2017, Pakistan is the 6th most populous country in the world.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows that there is a five-tier model of human needs, in which at the primary level lies physiological and safety needs, such as food, water, health, and shelter.
Today we are going to discuss one of the most fundamental need of the life, health. In this article, you will be able to find out, that how our beloved country is unable to meet such a fundamental requirement of life. We will also discuss the factors that Influence the health facilities in our country, and finally, we will end up with all the possible remedial measures that can be made to improve this sector.
Health Sector of Pakistan
By the time of independence, the population of Pakistan was 31 million, which escalated to 197.5 million by 2017. This won’t have caused a problem if every individual was being provided with necessary health facilities, but unfortunately, almost 60 million people are unable to access basic health facilities, about 89% water in our country is not drinkable but, for the survival, people drink it daily several times a day. Pakistan stands among those countries which spend their 2% of GDP on health which is 12% less to that which a developed country spends.
Every province, city, and all the districts are going through the same situation. Now let us classify and discuss health situation in each province of Pakistan.
Health and Sindh
The population of Sindh province is 55.4 million as per current year census. For these 55.4 million people, there are 427 hospitals, 2912 dispensaries and 221 maternity and child care units. A total number of hospital beds in the province are 33774 including all the hospitals, dispensaries, and maternity homes. That shows that there is one hospital for the population of 129743, one dispensary for a crowd of 19024, and one bed for 1641 people. Therefore, according to a survey, almost 80% women deliver their babies in traditional conditions with the help of midwives or at their homes and 86 in every 1000 women quit their lives while giving birth to a newcomer.
Health and Punjab
If we talk about Punjab, it is the most populated province of our country. It has a total population of 110 million. Punjab has a total number of 368 hospitals, 1325 dispensaries and 280 maternal and child care centers. It has a total of 57648 hospital beds. With comparison to the population people of Punjab have one hospital for 298913 people, one dispensary for 83018 people. The hospital to people ratio is 1:1908 which means that there is one hospital bed for 1908 people which shows that the health facilities in this province are not any better.
Health and KPK
When we talk about the health facilities in KPK we find that there is a population of 30.5 million, hospitals for these 30.5 million people are 270, dispensaries are 915 whereas mother care units and child care centers are 131. A total number of hospital beds in the province are 21908. In KPK each hospital is for 112962 people, one dispensary is for 33333 people, and one bed is for the crowd of 1392. So bed to people ratio is comparatively better in this province.
Health and Balochistan
Baluchistan has always been suffering from the worst because of being a tribal area. Their customs, traditions do not welcome innovation and betterment readily. Baluchistan is the largest province of Pakistan by area and has a population of 12.3 million. A total number of hospitals in the province are 127, followed by 567 dispensaries and only 96 maternity homes and child care units. People of Balochistan, generally, do not favor their women to go to the hospitals even in worst conditions because of their conservative thinking. A total number of hospital beds in the province are 7541. Now if we compare these with the total population we will find that there is one hospital for 96850 people, one dispensary serves 21693 people. One bed is for a crowd of 1623 in the province.
Facilities and Condition of Public Hospitals.
History has witnessed a deplorable condition of rural health centers in our country. New like a newborn could not survive because of unavailability of doctors or medical equipment; a person lost his life because he/she was not given a proper treatment or first aid, people died because of expired medicine, etc. are very common nowadays.
Despite having the most professional and experienced doctors, people suffer the worst conditions in the public hospitals. There is no check and balance and government property, medical equipment, ambulances, machines and other material and is being misused or rented out. The unfair use and selling out of free public medicines, drips, injections or even ventilators is a part of daily newspapers. Due to vested private interests of the public sector doctors, machines and equipment present in the government hospitals are not used, getting rusted and then sold out for scrap. Hospital staff is seen once in a blue moon. Minute to minute, attendants are sent to the pharmacies to buy medicine and things which are provided free by the government but never delivered to the public. Needed privacy in women ward is negligible; private rooms are given to those who are blessed with a powerful status in our society. Serious patients are handed over to the new practitioners without any guidance or supervision, newly graduated physicians conduct the experiment on those who are left unattended.
Jobs like collecting the blood sample, changing a urine bag, inserting a urine pipe are handed over to these young lads and ladies because experienced doctors enjoy sitting in their restrooms, paid holidays or outing all the time.
If one comes in an emergency, he is not given the first aid unless and until he or she does not complete all the requirements. Sometimes patients are sent back by saying that there is no space or by making excuses like availability of the doctor, dysfunctional ventilators or no supply of oxygen.
Let’s go into the depth and find that why authorities in the health sector are so irresponsible to take care of all this?
Reasons Behind the Fall of Public Health Sector.
“I will serve humanity, disregard to religion, color, tribe, nation, wealth” every year thousands of medical students get their degrees after they take this oath that, they will serve humanity no matter who needs them. A promise that they will serve every human equally, disregard to any family or any social class. A saying that above all, they will keep one thing that they are doctors and that they must serve the mankind. But do they keep their word after entering the profession practically? Do they perform their duties? There is just a one-word answer NO! The government spends a lot of money from the taxpayers account to subsidize the medical education in the country. On average a single doctor consumes around 10 lac rupees from the national exchequer during his/her studies. A large number of females who are studying medicine in our country put this money in the dustbin when after getting the degree, they leave the profession because their only motive behind this is to get a title of Dr. for a good marriage proposal. For those who opt for the job, are being facilitated and provided with the maximum possible salaries and benefits among other sectors of the country. Still, people suffer the worst in government healthcare institutions as these young doctors have made political unions and go on strike every other day to force the government for increment in their salaries and grades. These doctors are so inhuman that they feel no shame in shutting down the emergencies and OPDs and let people die and cry for first aid just to pressurize the government for their unjust demands.
Here comes another factor that is Private Hospital.
Private Hospital, Blessing or A Curse?
Private hospitals are serving those people who are sent back by the government hospitals because of the unavailability of basic needs such as machines, equipment, staff or even doctors. Now those who can afford a handsome amount of money for saving their lives go to the private institutions while others suffer, survive by luck or die. A lot of Private hospitals provide you the best environment, cleanliness, well-equipped operation and diagnostic facilities, readily available doctors and staff, prompt response in emergent situations but, in return, they charge a very high fee that is not affordable by lower, lower-middle and middle social class.
However, like Private Schools, Private Hospital is a growing business in the country. And except the quality private hospitals, there are substandard hospitals being run by quacks in every other corner of our cities. Health authorities have badly failed to curb the supply and business of fake and inferior medicine. To avoid the hefty cost attached to fair medical treatment, people are now habitual of self-medication as well.
Non Licensed Entities
Long ago we used to hear that there were home clinics in which experienced midwives, herbal doctors, homeopathic doctors used to treat people because there were a few hospitals in the area. But comparative to today’s quacks, these people took good care and served the humanity for a very long time. Nowadays “doctors” without any degree, license or authority of owning a clinic, keep on practicing medical activities in those areas where the population is high, and the literacy rate is low because no one objects and check their operations there. They keep on playing with human lives every single day. They may be a pharmacist, a new medical student or sometime herbal or homeopathic doctors who practice physician’s or surgeon’s activities.
People who cannot afford the private fee for treatment are their customers (victims), some lose their lives some survive by luck.
Self-Medication
Here comes another issue that is self-medication, every home in Pakistan has a doctor, and that is none other but mom, in our country, people visit hospitals only in the cases of emergencies. For fever, viral infections, pain and symptoms like that, most of the people go for self-medication. Few well-known medicines are used without any prescription by the physician such as Panadol for pain or fever, some for vomits and stomach disorders, few for muscular ache so and so.
But remember these medicines not only causes problems in immunity but they can also be the reason of kidney or liver failure.
In well-developed countries, pharmacists are not allowed to give any medicine without a prescription, but unfortunately, we live in a country where pharmacists themselves act as a doctor.
Summary
Everything in this world is secondary except health, health is the most basic need of life, and one cannot compromise on this necessity because we can avail all the opportunities if we are healthy, an unhealthy person is the most impoverished human being because he/she cannot enjoy his life like others.
Unfortunately, Pakistan stands among those countries where health is taken-for-granted, people play with their health by acts like self-medication and allows other to play with their health as well.
The public health sector is declining day by day because of the negligence of authorities and non-professional activities carried out over there.
The private sector is flourishing, but there is no quality check, and the money makers forget the service part altogether.
We failed in the fight against diseases like TB and POLIO.
We failed in protecting our pregnant women.
We failed in providing pure drinking water.
Summing up all, we failed in giving the most basic need to our people that is HEALTH.
Remedial Measures to Improve Health Facilities in Pakistan
Our beloved country was founded after sacrificing many lives; our ancestors gave these sacrifices so that we can live a prosperous life.
To improve the health facilities in Pakistan, authorities need to take prompt and severe actions such as:
Keeping a proper check and balance in government hospitals concerning doctors, staff members, machines, equipment, etc.
Private hospitals should be restricted that they cannot exceed a limit of treatment fee so that in the case of unavailability of government hospital everyone can afford a private one.
Self-medication should be strictly prohibited, and all those pharmacists who help in such activities must be banned.
Proper training must be given to the young doctors who are newly graduated, and they must be supervised properly.
Last but not the least our country deserves cleanliness; it must be made sure that it gets what it deserves. Because according to our religion, Cleanliness Is Half of The Faith.
May Allah send those of us at the top who can come up with the corrective actions in the health sector for the betterment of our country.
