KARACHI, April 21: Leaders of the Pakistan Medical Association, Karachi chapter, said on Monday that the government should ensure efficient working of its health institutions, including hospitals and health-care units, so that the people really benefited from them.

They said that the government during the last few years had spent a huge amount of money on health facilities but failed to properly equip them with qualified doctors, paramedical staff and equipment.

Speaking at a press conference in the Karachi Press Club, the PMA leaders covered various aspects of the health system of the country, status of doctors and their career structures and training, failure of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), unethical practices by doctors and poor performances of heads of medical institutions and hospitals, inadequate overall performance in the children’s immunization programme and eradication of preventable diseases.

Dr Samrina Hashmi, the Karachi secretary-general of the PMA, referred to the non- appointment of regular ministers for health in the centre and Sindh and said that it indicated the government’s non-serious attitude towards the health sector.

“The health of the nation has become a matter of cheap slogans and corruption,” she stated and referred to thousands of vacant posts of doctors in public hospitals. The small health units both in rural and urban areas were considered the main source of relief for a larger section of the people, but the government was paying very little attention to them, she said.

Flanked by Dr Habibur Rehman Soomro and Dr Aziz Khan Tank, Dr Hashmi also criticized the government for bypassing the public service commission and appointing doctors on a contract basis. She said such an approach proved good only for the incompetent, non-serious and politicised persons, who were seldom held accountable.

She said there was no career structure for doctors working in non-teaching health units, while doctors had to wait for their promotions for long periods.

“More than 600,000 quacks are playing with the lives of poor people, while on the other hand the government has no checks on production, marketing and advertising of ‘magic drugs’ for the treatment of cancer, diabetes and sexual dysfunctions,” Dr Hashmi said.She said the government should not invest in structures and rather ensure appointment of doctors and proper training for increasing their professional capabilities. She said there should be a check on the mushroom growth of medical colleges both in the public and private sectors.

She also referred to a set of recommendations, which, according to her, had been sent to the PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

The PMA called for immediate employment of doctors through the public service commission and regularization of contract doctors.

It was also demanded that the basic pay for a medical house officer should be brought on a par with that of a grade-17 officer, while there should be an overall increase of up to 6 per cent of the GDP for health sector expenditures.

The PMA also stressed restructuring of the PMDC and appointments of members to it largely through elections, strengthening of present tertiary care centres, teaching hospitals, and medical colleges, introduction of laws against the propagation of quackery through the media.

It was also said that at present there was no scheme to help dedicated doctors start their practice in their community. The provincial health departments should also have a plan to solve problems related to medical education and postgraduate training and also eliminate chances of exploitation of young doctors in the hands of private hospitals.

The PMA office-bearers also urged the government to ensure clean drinking water for the people in all parts of the country.