About 80 doctors including 15 surgeons leave the country every year due to different reasons. This was stated by Department of Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) Chief of Cardiac Surgery Prof Abdul Waheed in an exclusive interview with APP on Sunday. “Main reasons are low remuneration, poor law and order and lack of a proper service structure for doctors,” he added. “Medical officers, registrars and even senior registrars include in the list of doctors who leave the country,” he added.
To a question, he said that after withdrawal of US doctors from Saudi Arabia over security reasons, Pakistani doctors got an opportunity to fill the vacant posts. “After every three months, Saudi officials visit Pakistan and select doctors by the permission of the government. It is a matter of concern and the gravity of the situation should be felt,” he added.
Answering a question, he said that some 30,000 children in the country are born with heart diseases which could be prevented through primary healthcare.