Health care system of Pakistan

Current issues with Pakistan's Health sector:

● Low budget
● Lack of doctors and hospitals
● Poor physical infrastructure
● The public sector situation is worse with less accommodation.
● Every year we add 500,000 new tuberculosis cases, making Pakistan the 5th
highest burden country.
● Around 12 million people are living with hepatitis B and C, making us the worst
affected country in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
● In 2022, Pakistan reported more than 3.4 million malaria cases.
● Pakistan had the biggest outbreak of Extremely Drug Resistant (XDR) typhoid,
affecting an estimated 40,000 in two cities alone.

Solutions
● First, health should be discussed in the context of national security. A sick or
unhealthy Pakistan including future generations with low IQs are a national
security issue.
● Second, we can’t solve our health challenges until we fix our population
challenge.
● Thirdly, we need to fix our drinking water and sanitation issues. Just by providing
clean drinking water and reasonable sanitation, we could decrease more than
70% of the burden of infectious diseases.
● Fourth, we must address malnourishment issues.
● Fifth, we can’t manage our health system without health intelligence. We need to
have a representative and reliable disease surveillance system, which will not
only tell us about impending epidemics or pandemics but also help us in effective
resource utilization.
● Sixth, we need to provide access to quality health care, especially to the poor.
Seventh, we need to empower experienced health professionals to manage the
system.