Shady healthcare

The use of substandard medical equipment has been a longstanding concern for patients in Pakistan but there has been little formal effort to tackle this issue. A couple of weeks ago, however, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) raided major hospitals around Lahore and ended up recovering Rs40 million worth of substandard stents – which were being used for medical procedures. Stents are small tubes used in major surgeries, most notably heart surgeries. Both the Supreme Court and a Punjab government appointed investigation team have begun to look into the issue. New raids were conducted on the offices of a pharmaceutical multinational this week; more substandard stents were recovered from there. It is alleged that the stents being used by hospitals were not just of low quality, some had even expired. The prices being charged for these stents were also astronomical, with some who original price was ended up being sold for Rs350,000. Despite the raids, no one has been arrested yet. The practice of letting stent distributors set up counters directly at hospitals has been around for decades with only the government to blame for the lack of oversight.

The reality is that the lives of Pakistan’s patients have been left at the hands of profiteers. Successive governments have either colluded or willingly looked the other way after each new case of serious medical malpractice emerged. Only a couple of years ago, one of Lahore’s biggest cardiovascular hospital was found to have been administering substandard medicines to patients.       This too did not translate into a revamp of Pakistan’s drug regulators. The health of Pakistan’s populace remains a low priority – no matter which government is in power. Both public and private sector health providers are hardly ever tested on the quality of their service. Reportedly, Pakistan has no laboratory to test the quality of tests and other medical devices either. If true, this is extremely outrageous for one of the highest populated countries in the world. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) has admitted that unregistered stents continue to be a problem in the country. But that is not the only problem; there are no prices fixed for registered stents. The reality is that poor regulation has left Pakistan’s medical profession in the hands of profiteers of the worst kind. It might be fair to charge high prices for high-quality care, medicine and equipment, but the absence of any regulation has made the medical profession a free for all. There is no doubt that this situation is threatening the lives of patients. There needs to be a serious revamp of how medical practice is regulated in the country.