Doctor and the devil!
Dr Kashif Hussain
” When they are ill, doctor is looked upon as the only saviour after God, when cured they call him a common man, Afterwards a delusion supervenes and he suddenly becomes The Devil when they need to Pay ”
This is how the relation between doctor and society can be sketched.
We were told to serve humanity, we help the distressed in society, we work more than 30 consecutive hours, 28 days a month, we remain on call round the clock, Yes we are the poor doctors who chose the Noble profession of Prophets.
This article is not in defence of Doctors or to cover the emerging hard situation in Gilgit-Baltistan, rather its to make the public aware that they are all being tricked along with Doctors.
The performance of GB government towards health reforms can be better assessed if one bothers to have a glance on poor drug supply, intermingled departments with a maximum of three mini rooms each furnished with antiquated equipment and failure to upgrade the hospital for more than half a decade.
Most of doctors prefer gulf countries over Pakistan while rest move to more developed countries where they receive 20 times the amount of remuneration that they could have ever receive in Pakistan.
According to a survey 15,000 doctors leave country every year.
Current demographic studies state the Doctor-Patient ratio in Pakistan is only one to 1400 ( one doc for 1400 patients) which should be 200 doc for 1000 pt.
GDP for Health sector should be 5-8% which is reduced to only 2.5 %
Lack of doctors and increased influx of patients result in overcrowding with huge lines of poor waiting for the turn.
No doubt doctors need to be dedicated, but one must not see half of the picture.The doctors share the same needs as the rest of the citizens. They also have a family to feed.
After completion of 5 year MBBS and one year house job , few lucky ones are able to avail a paid job, the rest work day and night free of coast for 4 more years to complete FCPS.
This is like you want a skilled worker to build your house for free.
After all this hectic process what they get?? Few thousands which are not enough to feed themselves or manage a family.
In short this corrupt system is a total failure. Our basic rights are being confiscated and we are left without security. Our neighbour country India is offering more than twice of our salaries and becoming stronger in field of medicine as most of the talent is way back to homeland. ”Who prefers to be away from home when facilities are available”, as they say!
I speak on behalf of doctors that the government should focus on the root causes and take some bold steps to regain trust of doctors serving in public sectors, and avoid traditional fake promises and announcements. Listening to the demands and fulfilling of all those acceptable and genuine is the only way out.
The decision for construction of a medical college has also been made by government. Therefore, it is a humble request to the responsible authorities to make expedite constructio of the tertiary care hospital for welfare of the citizens of Gilgit-Baltistan
