HEALTHCARE DELIVERY SYSTEM OF

PAKISTAN

Name: FAZEEN AURANGZEB

YEAR: 2ND YEAR BDS
ROLL NO.: D-21030

In this day and age talking about the healthcare delivery system of
Pakistan is truly a horror story, as the body hasn’t been flourished.
when talking about Health care delivery system we need to know
what it actually literally means or how the WHO defines it is;
“A health system consists of all organizations, people and actions
whose primary intent is to promote, restore or maintain health.”
The word promote here doesn’t only refers to the urban green posh
areas of Pakistan to which frankly the only, true and accessible forms
of healthcare is available. To my way of thinking, Healthcare delivery
system of Pakistan is quite an obsolete. Beginning from the
insufficiencies the system suffers in this present age.

Needless to say, the healthcare delivery system faces the non-

existence of authoritative capacity, which comes with lack of
responsibility on the level of the government. The Healthcare system
has two of its branches in Pakistan, which is Public and Private
sectors. The Public health sector as the name gives it off is for the
less or under privileged and the Private Sector which is for the
privileged. So, it is a blended system of healthcare, with co-
occurrence to public and private sectors.

Pakistan's healthcare delivery system is broadly separated into two

major sectors: government healthcare and private health. Private
healthcare comprises of healthcare facilities owned by private
persons or organisations, homeopathy practitioners, non-profit
medical centres. The majority of private healthcare institutions are
for-profit businesses. On the other hand, the federal or provincial
governments are in charge of the public healthcare sector. While the
federal government oversees all military hospitals and medical
facilities within the federal capital and throughout the country.
Pakistan's public healthcare system is well-connected. In more
populated locations, there are full-service government hospitals or
teaching hospitals while there are dispensaries available in rural
areas.

Health care is the process of improving people's health through the

prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration, or cure of disease,
illness, injury, and other physical and mental disabilities. Medical
practitioners and health professionals’ areas provide health care.
Health care includes medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, childbirth,
nursing, psychiatry, rehabilitation services, and other health
professions. It encompasses work in primary care, secondary care,
and tertiary care, as well as public health.
There are a few elements of health and the healthcare system that
are crucial to explore here since they will help us better comprehend
the current concerns and challenges confronting the Pakistani
healthcare system.
The first key factor to evaluate is Pakistan's current health
challenges. The top ten health-related causes of death in Pakistan,
according to data on the global burden of diseases, are Neonatal
disorders, Heart problems, Stroke, Diarrhea, Lower respiratory
diseases, Tuberculosis, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD), Diabetes, Chronic kidney diseases, and Cirrhosis.
Malnutrition, air pollution, hypertension, dietary hazards, and
tobacco use are the leading causes of death and disability.

The second point to mention is the prevalence of germ illnesses.

According to WHO (2019), the incidence of malaria per thousand in
Pakistan is 3.4 while that of tuberculosis is 265 per hundred
thousand. Pakistan's healthcare system is also dealing with
difficulties such as dengue outbreaks, which have cost countless lives
in recent years3. Polio eradication is another difficulty for the
healthcare profession. Hepatitis is an increasing concern; it is
estimated that 12 million individuals have hepatitis B or C, with 150
thousand new cases recorded each year 4. Coupled with the disease
burden, Pakistan has endured an era of terrorism and various natural
catastrophes, putting additional strain on the current healthcare
infrastructure. The latest pandemic also posed a significant challenge
to the healthcare system.

Finally, healthcare resources in Pakistan are insufficient or scarce,

and this paucity of healthcare resources can lead to problems with
healthcare delivery. In 2018, the country had 0.98 physicians and
0.66 nurses and midwives for every thousand people. According to
WHO recommendations, both figures indicate a relatively low
number of healthcare professionals. The WHO recommends 2.5
medical personnel per thousand for adequate primary healthcare
coverage (WHO, 2015).

Pakistan is the world's sixth most populated country, with a

population of more than 210 million people (PBS, 2017). According
to the World Bank (2018), the country spends 3.2% of its GDP on
healthcare, one of the lowest rates in the South Asian area. Pakistan
ranks 154th out of 195 nations in the 2016 Healthcare Access and
Quality Index (HAQ). Pakistan's Universal Health Coverage (UHC)
index (WHO, 2017) is 45, significantly below the global average of 64.
In Pakistan, the average out-of-pocket expenditure for medical
services is 56.24%. (WHO, 2018).

Furthermore, even though the healthcare policies documented in

Pakistan shed some light on the right to access public healthcare
facilities. The national health policy document by MoH (2001) and
MoH
(2009) are national-level policy documents. The 2001’s national
healthcare policy focuses on reforms in the health sector. This
document emphasizes improving the district-level healthcare
infrastructure, ensuring gender equity in health, and decreasing the
urban bias of healthcare both in public and private sectors however
unlike the right of life, education, and equal opportunities of earning
for all, Pakistan’s constitution does not recognise the right to
healthcare as a basic human right.

Conclusively, in my opinion, the right to quality healthcare must be

available to all Pakistanis equally and should not whatsoever depend
upon their availability of finance. Along with this, healthcare needs
to be given recognition as a basic human right in Pakistan's
Constitution.
Furthermore, the distribution of public healthcare resources is more
skewed towards provincial capitals, populated regions, and urban
centres. Pakistan's districts lack public healthcare resources, and the
existing public healthcare infrastructure is insufficient to meet the
needs of the country's rising population. Furthermore, the
distribution of healthcare resources and growth patterns suggest
that inequities in the healthcare sector may have arisen as a result of
a lack of policy and planning procedures, as well as the neglect of
less urban and big districts. Thus, it is very important to effectively
implement healthcare planning both in the rural and urban areas so
that everyone has accessibility to quality healthcare.