Majority of public sector dispensaries across the country do not have basic medical equipment and are not providing free medicines to the people. A report issued by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) on Wednesday says in the 145 dispensaries visited nationwide in October this year by FAFEN teams, it was observed that necessary equipment and free medicines were not available for people.
The report said items indispensable for protection from germs and transmission of communicable diseases, like sterilizers and syringe cutters, were not available, while 126 facilities did not have free medicines. FAFEN monitors visited 68 dispensaries in Punjab, 36 in Sindh, 26 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11 in Balochistan, one in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and three in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Seventy-six patients interviewed at the dispensaries reported that they did not get free medicines from the in-house pharmacy as per doctors’ prescriptions, while 32 complained of overcharging. All state-run health facilities are supposed to provide these medicines free of cost. Additionally, 65% dispensaries did not have sterilizers and one third of them lacked syringe cutters. The report said the condition of buildings housing 67 dispensaries was not good while 43 did not have boundary walls and 30 were not clean. Seventy-nine percent of the monitored dispensaries had electricity but 37 lacked fans. More than half of the monitored facilities did not have arrangements for clean drinking water for patients or for washrooms with running water.
Additionally, 43 dispensaries did not have a shaded waiting area for patients. Except Sindh, where 26 out of 36 dispensaries shared information on sanctioned posts and appointments of medical staff, less than half of the monitored facilities provided information on medical staff posts in each region. All the sanctioned posts for female paramedical staff were occupied in dispensaries that shared information in Punjab, FATA and ICT. One post each in KP and Balochistan was unoccupied while six in Sindh were vacant. For male paramedical staff, all sanctioned posts were filled in dispensaries providing information in FATA and ICT, three positions were vacant in Balochistan and at least 90 percent were filled in all other regions.