Have you ever been to a government hospital in Pakistan and witnessed pathetic condition of hospitals and no proper treatment for the patients? The negligence in the health sector of Pakistan is evident. There are no proper resources to treat the patients. Moreover, there are lack of doctors for the treatment of patients and as a result many patients suffer serious complications due to lack of proper treatment. There Is also a lack of awareness among the public. The government pays no heed towards the health sector which is very important to lead the country towards betterment.

The health care sector in Pakistan is considered most corrupt according to the surveys conducted by Transparency International. Pakistan has no national health insurance system and 78 percent of the population pay health care expenses themselves.The health sector in Pakistan is on the verge of collapse. It is the need of hour to pay attention towards this sector. In the framework of health system development, there is an alarming shortage of skilled and qualified healthcare experts. There is a ratio of one doctor for 1764 patients in Pakistan which is really alarming.

In Pakistan almost 50 percent of population is below the poverty line. Therefore, people have no other option than to take treatment from the government hospitals. People suffering from serious health problems, injuries, accidents that need treatment immediately are not treated in government hospitals without getting the token from the line which is a pathetic system. Moreover, there are no doctors available in the government hospitals mostly to treat the patients immediately and all these problems sum up to prove fatal for most patients.

The understanding of medical negligence in our society as a concept is rather hazy. On a daily basis several cases of medical negligence on the part of the health care workers are witnessed. Medical negligence is the most common issue in Pakistan. Often patients suffer a lot due to the negligence of health workers. Wrong diagnosis of diseases is one of the most common problem which in many cases prove life threatening for patients. Furthermore, giving wrong injection to patients, using expired medicines, leaving equipment in abdomen while surgery etc are also witnessed immensely.

Pakistan’s health system is neither caring nor healthy and in fact it is not even a system. It is dysfunctional and been in the hands of corrupt mafias. This system comprises of doctors who although take their salaries from the government hospitals yet focus on their private clinics and are least bothered to serve the patients lying in pathetic conditions without any treatment in the government hospitals. The senior doctors visit the patients once a week or so. And in fact this is the dilemma of our system. Moreover, the condition of government hospital is miserable. Most of them are outdated and understaffed with obsolete environment. The wards are always crowded and mostly patients over there look more miserable than before they were admitted because the conditions in which they are treated their health deteriorate just. Insects roam around the room and even cats and dogs have access to the rooms which are full of germs and a health hazard for the patient. The bed sheets are full of dirt and germs which make patients more ill. As well as in most cases two patients are forced to share a single bed which results in cross contamination of diseases.

There are many challenges Pakistan face in the field of health. Pakistan is ranked 122ND out of the 190 countries in World Health Organizations performance report. And it ranks 154th in terms of quality and accessibility of health care.The impact of governments negligence towards health care on people of Pakistan can be seen from latest incident of Punjab. In Punjab many people have died after consuming harmful cough syrup and life threatening medicines. There is poor health care status of women which is a major reason of the problem of maternal mortality.

Access to health facilities is the basic right of every citizen but unfortunately the Government of Pakistan has failed to fulfil its commitment with health sector and to enable its citizens get proper treatment of their diseases without any hassle. There is gender discrimination in health sector. Females are given priority when it comes to nursing. We hardly see male nurses. Government is investing its limited resources in the development of medical colleges and universities rather than investing in improving the quality of health care by training medical professional which is the need of current time.

Moreover, the doctors in government hospitals are mostly concernedabout earning commission through medicines and the poor patients often fall a prey to them and often buy medicines from recommended companies by the doctors. These medicines are recommended by the doctors even if they are of no use of patients as their primary goal is to take commission.

The health sector is on a serious verge of collapse and can be improved although if government pays attention towards it. Which can be done by rightly implementing policies and making sure that the doctors are doing their duties rightly. Moreover, the cleanliness in hospitals should be ensured. If the government succeeds in tackling health mafias a lot of improvement can be expected. The health sector in Pakistan is really problematic. Corruption and misguidance is at its peak as well as no international health standards are met. The government needs to take strong initiative to improve the health sector and overcome all the challenges in this field.

 Zainab Asim is a student of bachelors of software engineering.She is am writing this article in order to create awareness among the people about the reality of health sector and government hospitals in Pakistan.