Dr Sirajul Haq, former chief of health division, planning commission, has said that it was the responsibility of the state to provide health facilities to the people and not only of the ministry of health.
He was addressing a book launching ceremony of "Pakistan's National Health policy: Quest for vision" here on Wednesday. The thrust of the book was that the Prime Minister should head a health policy commission.
The former health planner however expressed his reservations on the recommendation saying that the Prime Minister could head only a limited number of national commissions because of multifarious responsibilities.
Speaking about the prevailing health situation, he emphasised that certain aspects need to be given more attention.
For instance he pointed out that according to official reports nearly 900,000 abortions were carried out in one year. This meant lack of family planning facilities, which compelled the couples to go for abortions.
Himself being in the planning division, the former chief of health division said that the government did not give full measure of the ground realities while formulating policies.
Speaking on the occasion, President of Health file Dr Sania Nishtar emphasised the need for transparency while implementing policies particularly in remote areas of the country, which are woefully deficient in health facilities.
Another speaker Dr Talib Lashari said that infant mortality rate in Pakistan is still very high as compared to the other Saarc countries.
He remarked that there is no mechanism for priorities of issues. Moreover, lack of linkage between policy and implementation made the situation worse.
He said that an important aspect of health planning should be preventive care, but the dominant role is on curative aspect.
He also found fault with the budgetary allocation for health about one percent of the GDP, which is comparatively very low.
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