Pakistan is facing a ‘medical emergency’ due to epidemics of communicable and non-communicable diseases and there is a need for waging a ‘Jihad’ against the disease and misery in the country.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said this on Sunday as he delivered a keynote address on ‘Universal Health Coverage’ at the plenary session on the third and final day of the 5th biennial conference of the Indus Health Network (IHN), titled ‘ICON 2020’, at a local hotel.
“Like the economic crunch, this government has inherited a medical crisis and at the moment, we are facing a medical emergency in the country. If there is any area which needs Jihad, it is the health sector,” he said, adding that only the universal health coverage was the solution to all the health problems being faced by the Pakistani population.
Praising IHN Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Abdul Bari Khan, the federal health adviser termed him the Edhi of the health sector in Pakistan and said without Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had established Shaukat Khanum Hospital, and Dr Bari, who had founded the Indus Hospital, the healthcare sector in Pakistan could not have been what it was.
“By establishing the Indus Health Network, Dr Abdul Bari has created a mini revolution in Pakistan. The same has been done by Prime Minister Imran Khan who established Shaukat Khanum hospital and revolutionised the cancer treatment in the country,” Dr Mirza said, adding that the entire Pakistani population, irrespective of their socio-economic status, needed universal health coverage.
He said people in developing countries like Pakistan needed universal health coverage more than those in the developed nations as the poor have to spend over 65 per cent of their incomes on their healthcare needs.
It is high time that the state takes care of the healthcare needs of their people, he asserted. Criticising the ‘landlords’ for establishment of five-star hospitals in the country for their own healthcare needs, he deplored that nobody paid attention to the primary healthcare in the country and added that in these circumstances, spending major portions of their incomes makes poor people of this country poorer.
“In these circumstances, this government has started providing the Sehat Sahulat Cards to those who are living below the poverty line to provide them universal health coverage in the country. So far, we have provided Sehat Sahulat cards to 6.8 million people across Pakistan while our target is reaching at least 15 million people,” Dr Mirza said.
He maintained that all the disabled people in Pakistan, all the transgender population of the country as well as all the residents of ex-FATA districts and Tharparkar district of Sindh had been made eligible for the provision of Sehat Sahulat cards.
“We wish to provide universal health coverage to each and every citizen and in this regard, we are ready to share the premium with a large segment of society while the well-to-do segment would need to bear the expenses of their health insurance on their own.”
Speaking about another initiative if the Centre, Dr Mirza said the federal government in collaboration with the provincial healthcare commissions of the country was striving to transform tertiary-care hospitals into ‘patient-safety friendly hospitals’ and added that in this regard, inspections of the hospitals would be carried out and those which would fulfil the minimum criteria, would be declared as patient-safety friendly health facilities.
Dr Mirza visits KPC
Dr Mirza visited the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on the invitation of the KPC health committee and discussed with him the provision of universal health coverage and Sehat Sahulat Cards to the journalist fraternity, especially members the KPC members.
The special assistant to the PM said journalists were a ‘vulnerable’ segment of society who needed universal health coverage keeping in view the nature of their profession. He vowed to devise a criterion to ensure health coverage to journalists and their families.