2010: Health Ministry looked busy, did nothing

ISLAMABAD – No initiative was taken by the government and the fund provided for health remained insufficient during 2010. The government officials rested content, saying that there was no need to launch a new project since they could not spare time from the 10 old ones, which were ‘sufficient’. However, because of rampant corruption and mismanagement,
these programmes could not create a major stir in the deplorable health conditions in the country. Millions of rupees were pumped into these programmes like previous years, but somehow the money was not able to stop an ever-increasing number of people from falling into the clutches of these serious ailments. But the bottom-line remains that health and education, as in all previous years, continued to be neglected in 2010 also.
LIVER TRANSPLANT SYSTEM ‘REANNOUNCMENT’: Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani recently ‘re announced’ the installation of a liver transplant system at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) which was also announced by former prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali years back. No system is yet in place, despite two announcements.
INCREASING POLIO CASES: Polio cases, which numbered 40 in 2006, rose to 136 in 2010, showing the highest increase in a decade. Alarmingly, 78 percent of these patients were apparently administered polio drops.
INEFFECTIVE HEPATITIS CONTROL POLICY: National Hepatitis Control Programme, launched in August 2005 with a budget amounting to Rs 2.59 billion, failed miserably as the number of patients continued to rise, making the government announce its second phase with an allocated budget of Rs 13.9 billion. According to the ministry’s statistics, Pakistan currently has over 15 million patients infected with Hepatitis C or B. The estimated prevalence rate is 3-5 percent for Hepatitis B and 7-10 percent for Hepatitis C.
Not a single government hospital provides the testing facility for Polymerize Chain Reaction (PCR) (Qualitative and Quantitative), which cost Rs 17, 000 in private laboratories.
NEW 300,000 TB CASES: Pakistan ranks 6th globally in high tuberculosis (TB) burden and it remains a major health sector concern. Responding to the challenge, the Government of Pakistan approved a PC-I covering the period 2005-2010 and has allocated an amount of Rs 1184 million along with $ 56 million in foreign aid, yet 300,000 new TB cases were registered in 2010.
525 AIDS, 7049 HIV POSITIVE CASES:
The ‘comprehensive plan’ of health managers to control AIDS since 1986, the estimated number of HIV/AIDS cases in Pakistan are 97,400 whereas according to NIH statistics from January-March 2010, 525 aids positive and 7049 HIV positive cases were registered with 249 deaths.
DENGUE FEVER: Like every year dengue fever hit Pakistan in October this year and a lack of policy to counter it took 45 lives, leaving nearly 6000 to 7000 affected.
DETERIORATING FACILITIES: Seven major hospitals in the country are operating without permanent executive directors with the most of the present directors having been appointed because of political influence and nepotism.
These hospitals include Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Poly Clinic, National Institute of Health (NIH), National Institute for Child Health (NICH), Shiekh Zaid Hospital Lahore, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Karachi and Shiekh Khalifa Bin Zayed Federal Hospital Quetta.
NON-EXISTENT HOSPITAL WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN:
The country’s health managers are also yet to kick start the first “Health Care Waste Management Action Plan” with an estimated cost of Rs 1.6 billion, with major hospitals operating without any incinerators, spreading the diseases they are already failing to cure. Experts believe that insufficient budget allocation, corruption and lack of pure intention on the ministry’s part are the main reason for the problems that persisted in the health sector during 2010, a year that was not a healthy one for the citizens of Pakistan.