Expressing concern over the nation’s health, lack of required number of doctors, nurses and paramedics, and increasing diseases, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has said that Pakistan cannot achieve the health targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), for which promises were made with nations around the globe at the time of signing the United Nations (UN) Millennium Declaration.
In a report titled ‘Health of the Nation 2012’, which discusses the health status of the country and was issued on Saturday, the PMA demanded the Pakistani government to order a substantial increase in the health budget. Compared to ‘Health of the Nation 2011’, the PMA appears to be supportive of the government in the current report, as the medical association has not mentioned the current statistics to compare with those mentioned in the previous report.
The report was launched during a press conference at the Karachi Press Club by PMA President Dr Syed Tipu Sultan and other office-bearers of the association. In the detailed report, the PMA revealed that a shocking 80 percent of the total deliveries in Pakistan are conducted by unskilled attendants, and around 35,000 Pakistani women die due to pregnancy complications, which are not even officially counted.
At present, 80 percent of the total medical students are female, and after graduation, many of them would not be interested in medical practice, said the PMA in the report.
Resources are being used up for their education, but the society does not benefit from that, and there is a shortage of male doctors for emergencies and tricky areas, added the PMA.
It said, “Malnutrition is on the rise due to disasters like floods and other natural calamities. In Pakistan, cases of oral cancer are also on the rise due to consumption of gutka, mainpuri, paan and chhalia, especially in young age groups.”
The PMA also expressed concern over emigration of many medical professionals, contributing to brain drain and persistent shortage of skills in the country.
In the report, the association said that the government claims having 5,345 basic health units (BHUs) and 572 rural health centres (RHCs) to attend to the rural population, but in the previous report, the PMA had stated that 2,400 BHUs were non-functional.
It seems that the government has put enough pressure on the PMA this year that it has only concentrated on all the positive things the government is doing.
Instead of saying how many hospitals, clinics or dispensaries remained closed, the PMA stated in its current report that during 2010-11, around 35 new BHUs and 13 RHCs were constructed, 850 BHUs and 40 RHCs were upgraded, and 96,000 Lady Health Workers (LHWs) were trained and deployed in the rural areas.
The PMA avoided mentioning how many of these healthcare facilities became non-functional in a year and how many protests were staged by LHWs over non-payment of salaries and over not being promoted, and due to which how many children failed to get their routine immunisation.
Though the association said preventable diseases like tuberculosis, typhoid, hepatitis, malaria, diarrhoea, pneumonia and some forms of cancer are on the rise in Pakistan, the PMA avoided mentioning the exact number of patients afflicted with these diseases or the government’s measures to treat them.
Despite the fact that the PMA was supposed to state only the status of the health of the nation in its report, the association also mentioned that it supports the peaceful struggle of the doctors for their rights through protests.
The PMA also demanded that the Drug Regulatory Authority be constituted at the federal level, even though federal ministries have been devolved to the provinces post-18th amendment.
The association also demanded substantial increase in the health budget, and said that all political parties should include health in their manifestos.