PAKISTAN is a signatory of sustainable development goals (SDGs) to make significant progress towards health by 2030. Universal health coverage (UHC) is part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target 3.8).
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines universal health coverage (UHC) as all people having access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship. It covers the full continuum of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care across the life course.
Pakistan is ranked 124th out of 195 countries in the world. It is self-explanatory that Pakistan is lagging behind in achieving the health targets of the SDGs. Tertiary care hospitals are the most integral part of the healthcare delivery system in achieving the targets of the SDGs. If we talk about the capital’s largest tertiary care hospital, PIMS, Parliament a buzzed with poor patient care, mismanagement and incompetencies followed by a plethora of complaints from senior administration cadre officials of PIMS and senior faculty of PIMS.
While chaos at PIMS intensifies, there is big hope that the process of promotion of senior officers is being keenly observed by the young leadership of Pakistan. I believe that the architect of the 26th constitutional amendment to bring reforms in the judiciary to balance the power of the judiciary and executive while empowering the elected prime minister of Pakistan to appoint the chief justice of Pakistan, the real hope of Pakistan, Oxford graduate Bilawal Bhutto, must be included to participate with the prime minister in the process of promotion of senior officers by the HPSB (High Power Selection Board) to ensure meritocracy in the system. This step ultimately will pave the way for reforms in healthcare too.
I emphasize that the panacea for ills in PIMS lies in the Supreme Court judgment. Only the implementation of the Supreme Court decision of 2016 in true letter and spirit can help in the peaceful resolution of the PIMS issues, patient care in particular. In light of service rules and the Supreme Court judgment of 2016, an honest, clean, and senior-most eligible and most competent officer should be given the charge of executive director of PIMS immediately.
Capital is the face of Pakistan, and Pakistan needs a paradigm shift in healthcare to improve its ranking and to make significant progress in achieving the targets of SDGs by 2030. I fully endorse Bilawal Bhutto’s stance to participate in the process of promotion of senior officers to bring reforms to the system.
—The writer is a medical doctor and fitness geek and passionate about public health and human rights.
