Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) - The healthcare conditions in Pakistan are very poor and lead to serious inconvenience to the population. The country has earmarked only 0.7% of the GDP for this sector. Among the leading causes of illness and death in Pakistan there are congenital abnormalities, gastroenteritis, respiratory infections, tuberculosis, malaria and typhoid. According to UN estimates, HIV/AIDS has caused 4,900 deaths, hepatitis B and C are rampant and cover about 3 million people. For the assistance of 160,943,000 people (World Health Statistics 2008), the country has 127,859 doctors, 62,651 nurses and 96,000 health operators, with about 12,804 to 13,937 health care facilities, including 945 hospitals. The country also has 4,755 dispensaries, 5,349 basic health centers, 903 maternal and child care centers, 562 rural health centers and 209 centers for tuberculosis.
The figures seem encouraging, but in reality the country has a dual health care system, public and private. According to the government, theoretically, the Pakistani health system provides free assistance to all, while in the last two or three decades it has been privatized, becoming inaccessible to the majority of the population. Cheap drugs are insufficient, prices rise and they are out of reach for ordinary people.
A detailed survey of the NGO in Islamabad The Network for Consumer Protection (NCP), has found limited availability of essential drugs in public health facilities and unsustainable prices, out of reach for the poorest, also drugs for common treatments purchased by privates. The precarious state of health of Pakistanis continues to deteriorate partly because of lack of opportunity and education: admission to medical school remains a dream for the poor, because only the rich can afford to allow their children to study. In this scenario discrimination against women that are over half the population must be added. There are few female doctors, because many young girls are denied access to medical school. The lack of female doctors, in particular in gynecology, makes assistance and treatment more difficult for women. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 09/05/2012)
