Call to inject more funds into health sector

LAHORE

Nuclear scientist and social worker Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has said the health sector will surely show improvement if Rs 15-20 billion are injected in the same spirit as Rs 250 billion have been invested in the Orange Line train project.

Addressing a seminar on “Health facilities for All – But How? - Government, Welfare Institutions and Private Sector” organised by Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman Memorial Society (Jang Group of Newspapers) in collaboration with Dr AQ Khan Hospital at a local hotel the other day, Dr AQ Khan emphasised the need for welfare projects in health sector as government sector hospitals were unable to cater to the load of patients especially when doctors’ frequently go on strike and close down the OPDs in the hospitals. He said 99 per cent patients in government hospitals were poor as the well-off people like to go to the private hospitals for treatment, therefore, it is of paramount importance for philanthropists and social workers to start welfare projects in health sector to help the poor people in their distress. He said AQ Khan Hospital is a 300-bed hospital with a very competent team of health professionals. “We are trying to provide free treatment to the poor patients, but a lot of hurdles are being created in our way,” he said.

The advisor to chief minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique said: “We have been confronting a problem of a growing population, which is eating up all the resources without visible improvement in health sector. We need to change our mindset and control population for better results in health and other sectors”. 

The Red Crescent Pakistan Chairman, Dr Saeed Elahi, said that the health system was failing all over the world, which is evident for the fact that there were approximately 1,900 public-private partnership programmes and supporting the health structure in the world. He said that the public sector was governed by laws but the private sector wanted to operate without checks and balances.

Prof Dr Muhammad Saeed, Senior Gynaecologist and Medical Director Dr AQ Khan Hospital said that at least 1,000 newborn died out of every 10,000 live births. According to a report of World Health Organization (WHO), the poverty can be eradicated if health services are provided to people without any discrimination.

Prof Dr Ghias-un-Nabi Tayyab, Gastroenterologist and Principal Postgraduate Medical Institute/Lahore General Hospital, while paying tributes to Dr AQ Khan for making the country a nuclear power, he underscored the need to become a medical power. “We must provide free treatment facilities to the poor patients while considering resource constraints,” he added. He stressed the need to provide hygienic food and potable drinking water to the masses to reduce the burden of diseases in the country.

Prof Dr Farid Ahmad Khan, Plastic Surgeon and Chairman/Dean Shaikh Zayed Hospital, said that Dr AQ Khan was a role model, who not only made Pakistan a nuclear power but also devoted his life for the welfare of poor people of this country. “We need more role models like him.” He said, “It is responsibility of everyone including the government, the medical professionals and the rich people if anyone dies of preventable cause. He also mentioned that medicines had become too costly for the poor patients to afford.

Shaukat Virk, Project Director of Dr AQ Khan Hospital, said Dr AQ Khan is not only a nuclear scientist but a social worker too, who had helped establish a lot of colleges, community centres and mosques in different parts of the country. He said Dr AQ Khan Hospital is a 300-bed hospital and we need another 20 such hospitals to cater to the load of patients, adding that two patients were being accommodated on one bed in government hospitals as patients from other cities also were coming for treatment purposes in hospitals.

Dr Tariq Mahmood Mian, President of Pakistan Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP), said that, according to a WHO report, there should be 50 beds for 10,000 population but we have only 12:10,000 bed-population ratio in Pakistan. Similarly, he said, there should be 13 doctors for 10,000 population but we have only 8:10,000 doctor-population ratio in Pakistan.

Besides, MKRMS chairman Wasif Nagi, anchorperson Fatima Saif and spoke on the occasion.