Healthcare commission

A nine member Healthcare Commission has been formed in the province of Sindh to regulate and register all healthcare facilities. Its long list of responsibilities include functions such as licensing hospitals, clinics and labs, monitoring and regulating the quality of the healthcare services and operating accreditation programmes in respect of provincial healthcare organisations. This is indeed a welcome step, but clearly the province of Sindh seems a ‘male only’ province. It has not felt it appropriate to include even a single female in the magnificent nine member commission. This is not just a matter of being callous, biased or discriminatory. It is a reflection of a society gone bizarre.

Women bear the strongest brunt of poor healthcare services. They are not just half of our population but they are the ones who die in thousands every year because of maternal mortality, child birth and malnourishment. They are the ones who suffer the most - queuing for endless hours to show themselves and their sick children to half-baked and uncaring healthcare providers. Would a kind and caring lawyer please file a pro bono appeal in the Sindh High Court to demand that the Sindh Healthcare Commission be reconstituted in a manner that at least half of its members are women?

Naeem Sadiq

Islamabad