Pakistan’s security linked to spending exponentially on national health

ISLAMABAD: Health is the most essential component of national security and without spending exponentially on the health of the nation, especially on primary healthcare as well as preventive and promotional health, the security of Pakistan cannot be guaranteed, former federal health ministers, public health experts and officials declared on Wednesday.

Recommending an increase in spending on primary healthcare instead of establishing tertiary and secondary care health facilities, they called for increased budgetary allocation for health, at least 0.5 percent of the GDP on annual basis to achieve the recommended expenditure of 5percent of the GDP in the next eight years.

They were speaking at a grand national dialogue titled “Health Security”, jointly organized by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) in collaboration with the Health Services Academy (HSA) Islamabad and it was addressed by former Special Assistants to Prime Minister (SAPMs) on health Dr Zafar Mirza, Dr Faisal Sultan, Vice Chancellor HSA Prof. Shahzad Ali Khan, CEO of the Sehat Saulat Program Muhammad Arshad, President IPRI Dr Raza Muhammad, Dr Rashid Wali Janjua and Dr Mubashir Hanif.

Former SAPM Dr Zafar Mirza maintained that in addition to an economic and social crisis, Pakistan is also facing a healthcare crisis and called for a need-based analysis of the health crisis instead of a resource-based crisis. He maintained that in the country’s first national security policy in 2021, for the first time, it was realized that health is an essential component of national security and called for taking concrete steps to raise a healthy nation with healthy children and healthy youth, deploring that the moment 40 percent of children are stunted while a majority of youth is unemployable, uneducated and physically incapable due to burden of diseases.

“The fundamental shift Pakistan need at the moment is to change its focus from spending on tertiary healthcare to primary healthcare. At the moment, 70 percent of resources are being spent on tertiary care while hardly 30 percent are being spent on primary but we need to completely shift the equation the other way around”, Dr Mirza added.

Warning of a ‘major epidemic of HIV in Pakistan’ in the days to come, Dr Zafar Mirza deplored that 100 percent of the medicines for the treatment of HIV, TB and Malaria were being provided with funds from the Global Fund and called for creating a National Health Service inclusive of the private sector and bring the national health insurance to the primary healthcare.