Quacks filling void left by doctors going abroad, warns health body

Sindh is facing an acute shortage of trained and qualified doctors as well as beds for patients, while there are thousands of quacks operating across the province who are causing deaths on a daily basis, a news conference at the Karachi Press Club was told on Wednesday.

Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) Chairman Prof Dr Tipu Sultan said Pakistan annually produces 14,500 to 15,000 doctors in addition to 1,200 specialists, of which 80 per cent are women, adding that majority of the female doctors and specialists abandon their profession due to a variety of reasons.

“Around 7 per cent of Pakistani doctors go abroad annually, leaving behind only 12 to 13 per cent, so there is an acute shortage of doctors. Due to this void, quacks flourish. But they won’t be allowed to murder people in Sindh any more.”

Terming the setting up of the commission as a “good omen” for patients, doctors, attendants and hospitals, Dr Sultan said that now everyone can approach them with their complaints. He assured the people that strict monitoring of health care facilities and doctors will be carried out and action will be taken against doctors and hospitals in case of negligence.

Surgeon’s nomination

The news conference was also told that the SHCC has written to the provincial health department to withdraw plastic surgeon Dr Mohammad Ali Jawad’s nomination and suggest someone else’s name for international expert of the commission’s technical advisory committee.

“Dr Jawad was not invited to the first meeting of the committee yesterday [Tuesday], and we have asked the health department to consider someone else in his place. The commission is a newly formed regulatory body and we can’t afford to make it controversial,” said SHCC CEO Dr Minhaj Qidwai.

Despite being suspended for nine months in England in 2015 on charges of sexually harassing a female patient, Dr Jawad was nominated as a member of the commission’s technical advisory committee, which caused serious concerns among other members, the directors and the medical fraternity in Sindh.