Staff Reporter
Dr Faiyaz Alam, General Secretary, Dua Foundation, Karachi said, ‘national health’s promotion and preservation is the core responsibility of any government, which is unfortunately ignored as 46 out of 1000 children die within 29 days after birth, this rate is higher than Afghanistan. 75 percent births take place in homes through unqualified midwives. Moreover there is no system of specialized training for midwives.’
He was speaking in a Shura Hamdard’s meeting, presided over by Dr Abubakr Sheikh, titled ‘Public health, alarming situation and national efforts’ at Hamdard Corporate Office, Karachi.
He further said, ‘in order to resolve health issues, there should be appointments on merit instead of political basis in health department and in hospitals.
Incompetent appointments have created a menace as they are playing with the lives of masses. Government has established many hospitals all over the country but there are no facilities in them’.
He advised governments to hand over management of those hospitals, which government could not run successfully, to reputable, credible NGOs as there have been several successful examples in this regard.
Therefore government should bring all NGOs on board and start collective efforts to fight this menace. The private nursing homes have been popped up like mushroom on as small covered area as 80 yards, he added.
He said government has given no priority to nursing, that’s why 78 women out of 1000 die during child birth. He emphasized on the importance of awareness and collective efforts of government and private sectors.
‘Thalassemia in our society is the result of ignorance and can be prevented easily by spreading awareness’, he said, adding ‘it has become a common practice of government hospital physicians who direct patients to their private clinics; it is a matter of moral conduct and should be considered in the light of morality.’
Brig (R) Dr Riazul Haq stressed upon the general health of masses and said ‘only those nations would survive who are healthy. But still we are clueless about the importance of health and education while there two sectors have long term impacts on society.’
‘Health issues can only be resolved until we manage to promote a healthy environment with special focus on public health,’ he added.
Dr Abubakr Sheikh emphasized on political will to overcome this challenge and said that government should patronize general health.
‘The widespread dengue virus is an eye-opener for us. With complete fumigation, good governance and effective management, we can overcome this obstacle and we must do that as health is such of such importance that nations’ rise and fall depend on it’.
