Healthcare

The healthcare department of the country is in a deplorable condition. Energetic efforts of the government are the key to the revival of the sector. It is unfortunate that in our country, new medical technologies are often not introduced at state-owned hospitals. Because of this, many patients who do have a chance of survival, lost their lives because of inadequate facilities available at a hospital. One thing which state-owned hospitals haven’t adopted to date is organ donation. Many diseases like liver and kidney diseases can be treated and the chances of a person leading a healthy life increases if the patient opts for organ transplantation. But, Pakistan is one of the countries where the concept of organ donation is not popular among people. Only the poor are often forced to donate organ – kidney, in most of the cases – against a small amount of money. Across the world, many people fill out a form which, at the time of a person’s death, gives full liberty to a hospital to take out the patients’ healthy organs and transplant them into the body of a patient who deserves them the most.

The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act was passed in 2010 and there has been consensus among medical practitioners and religious scholars that once a patient is dead, the donation of his/her organs and tissues is not only allowed, but it is also regarded a noble act. Despite having a legal framework in place, Pakistan has not managed to change the conservative mindset of our society with regard to organ donation. The medical and religious communities need to raise awareness among people that through organ donation, they are performing a good deed.

Kiran Fatima (Islamabad)