KARACHI: Regretting that the healthcare has gone beyond the reach of the common man after record inflation in Pakistan, Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Sunday demanded of the policymakers to redesign healthcare system to benefit the poor masses.

He said prices of medicines have seen a hike of up to 300 percent, while fees of doctors and rates of diagnostic tests are almost doubled.

He said a visit to an average medical practitioner and prescribed medication costs more than Rs1000 and it is not affordable for vast majority of our population.

He said corruption and unethical practices are high in medical community and doctors often prescribe unnecessary drugs to benefit pharmaceutical companies that give them hefty commission.

He said government hospitals lack proper pharmacies and other services and they often refer their patients to costly private facilities.

He said equipment costing billions of rupees is being rusted in different government hospitals because no trained staffs are available to run them.

He said similarly hundreds of modern ambulance vans are parked idle in Civil Hospital Thatta on the pretext that no trained staffs are available to run them.

He said corruption mafia in Sindh health department buys equipment costing billions without first arranging manpower to operate them.

Altaf Shakoor said we want more trained medical technicians and support staff than doctors. We should restructure our medical education that produces more medical support staff.

He said special courses should be designed to train medical technicians and nurses as full fledged doctors after long rigorous study and training programs.

He said free standing emergency rooms (ERs) should be set up in far-flung areas to reduce burden on tertiary care hospitals.

Altaf Shakoor demanded to fix minimum prices of all medicines instead of the maximum prices to save patients from the exploitation of pharmaceutical mafia. He said medicines should be sold on their generic names instead of brand names to promote healthy competition and bring down their rates.

He said environment is directly related to healthcare. He said choked gutters, littered streets and broken dusty roads are spreading diseases and so is contaminated drinking water. He said air and noise pollution are at their peak in our cities and tree cover and open recreational spaces are shrinking fast.

He said all these factors are directly related to healthcare care of citizens and the government should give a serious focus to them.

Altaf Shakoor requested the federal and provincial governments to redesign healthcare delivery system with focus to benefit the poorest of the poor.

He said ample funds should be earmarked for social sector especially healthcare. He said a healthy society is inevitable for a healthy and prosperous Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023