Medical experts and researchers have said that the rate of diseases in Pakistan is increasing and the treatment capacity of citizens is shrinking. The growing burden of diseases is also affecting the country’s economy.
Addressing the opening session of the eighty-seventh biennial convention of the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association, experts have said that the rate of diseases is increasing in Pakistan but its resources are not such that they can treat all people. The pressure and costs of increasing diseases cannot be borne by the government, nor can private organizations and the people bear its burden.
The rate of diseases in Pakistan is increasing and the treatment capacity of the people is squeezing while the number of diseases is increasing that pressure is also affecting the country’s economy. In these circumstances, the only option is, to inform the citizens about the prevention of diseases.
To achieve that goal the people should be encouraged to eat vegetables and give up meat, oil, sugar and salt. They need to be told how important regular exercise is for their health. It is estimated that Pakistan spends less than one percent of its GDP on health. From this it can be inferred that the health sector has never been a priority of any government. Therefore it is necessary to increase it to 5%. IF seen in that context it is no less than a tragedy that our universities I am not taught the health system and it is assumed that the doctor who comes from these universities will understand the health system and know how this system works.
According to the experts there is some defect in every system and there are defects in our healthcare system. In this regard, Dr. Asim Rafah, CEO of the Drug Regulatory Authority says that as a result of physician-pharma relations, such drugs are coming to the market that people cannot afford, which are becoming a burden on the people’s pockets. Therefore to prevent this, the authority has prepared recommendations for ethical marketing and finalized these recommendations together with the stakeholders but there is a need to implement them and oblige companies to do not bring such medicines in the market which cause more problems to the public but this is a very difficult task which requires 100% honesty to implement.
Although the health regulatory authority is claiming that more measures will be taken to stop the actions of robbing the public through the nexus of the authorities and companies and if someone violates they will also get help from the law enforcement agencies.
In that regard the pharmaceutical companies has also taken a stand that the regulatory authorities, DRAP, PPMA and PMDC should jointly solve these problems. Because it is only through joint efforts that patients can get quality and good medicine from which they can recover and establish a healthy society.
Moreover there is a need to revise the syllabus of medical education in the country because medical education may be producing good doctors but they are not becoming good humans. Doctors do not seem to have good human compassion and feelings for the betterment of society. Bioethics and literature should be taught in medical colleges and schools so that they understand human feelings and emotions and sufferings.
Until ethics is emphasized in medical colleges, we will continue to produce competent doctors but they will be act like machines and there will be no humanity in them. Because of which the business of promoting and recommending commission-based drugs to patients and selling them at high prices will continue to flourish along with the increase in the abominations of human organs.
So there is a need to make changes in education at the grass root level in medical colleges to promote high moral values including strict legislation for access to medicines at affordable prices for patients. Otherwise the burden of diseases will continued to grow in the society.
