| October 08, 2008 | Wednesday | Shawwal 8, 1429 |
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Education: having our own system
Problem of drinking water in Jacobabad
Ordeal at Mayo Hospital
Water for irrigation
Mindset of the educated
Big pharma and physicians
Teachers’ appeal to Sindh AG
Wasteful expenditure
Validity of MPs’ assets
Reaching for the impossible
Readers are requested to restrict their comments to a maximum of 400 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for reasons of clarity and space. Letters, including those by e-mail, should carry the complete postal address of the sender. The views expressed in these columns do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper.—Editor
TODAY is the third anniversary of the massive earthquake that struck many parts of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP in 2005, causing widespread deaths, destruction and displacement. Over 70,000 people, mostly children, were killed.
The facts and stories of miseries are well-known to the nation and the world which participated in a big way to save the injured and contributed to the relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction effort.
Information and updates on the reconstruction effort continued for over a year. But political turmoil after the sacking of the judiciary, lawyers’ movement, acts of terrorism and the murder of Benazir Bhutto, the general election and formation of government diverted the attention of the electronic and print media from the earthquake zone and the problems faced by the affected people.
That is why in the last two years there have been no reports from the devastated areas of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP, except an occasional ‘feel good’ story based on press releases.
The real story of the victims is different. It is true that the whole nation and many countries of the world helped us in the initial stages of relief and recovery and pledged billions of dollars for reconstruction.
But all that has not brought any real change in our lives and the dream of ‘build back better’ still remains to be realised.
Millions of houses were destroyed and government through the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA) paid from Rs75,000 to Rs175,000 per house as compensation. This amount was not even enough to pay the transportation charges of construction material to the mountainous areas.
Construction hubs were also promised to provide material for the reconstruction but that was not fulfilled.
The situation is that the people are living in shelters built in the first year with the help of the Army that provided some eight to 12 steel sheets to each household.
In an aerial view of these valleys, one can see white rooftops everywhere and it is assumed that the houses have been reconstructed. But the truth is that those are just rooftops and there is nothing like a house in there.
The roads which were destroyed in October 2005 were dug up to remove the debris and landslides but reconstruction is not in sight. Roads from Muzaffarabad to the Neelam Valley, Muzaffarabad to Chakkothi and Muzaffarabad to Bheri are in worst condition.
The same is the case in the NWFP areas where earthquake had struck. Let alone the miseries of the people, these are all strategic roads from security point of view but no attention is being paid. It is a nightmare to travel on these roads.
Thousands of schools, colleges and other educational institutions which were destroyed in the tremor are still in bad shape. Educational activities started in tents and shelter schools after the quake. After three years hardly any proper school has been rebuilt while health facilities are almost non-existent in these rural areas.
Doctors and the medicines were not available even prior to the earthquake as it is a common practice that no doctor is willing to serve in far-flung areas. However, after the devastation in 2005 no effort has been made to provide even the basic health care to the people in the affected areas.
There is no clean drinking water available as little watercourses were all destroyed and water springs dried up. In many areas, animals and the people drink from the same dirty pond and suffer from serious water-borne diseases.
Unemployment is also widespread in the quake-hit areas.
Many people working in other cities returned to their villages after the earthquake to rebuild their homes and provide shelter to their families. During the first year, most of them spent the compensation amount for the deaths and house building purposes. Now most of them are indebted to local shopkeepers for thousands of rupees.
Reconstruction and rehabilitation in the earthquake-stricken areas is a dream which may never come true. The two main cities — Muzaffarabad and Balakot — are still in ruins, what to speak of the conditions in remote areas.
MUHAMMAD AYUB MINHAS
Islamabad
A LOT of fuss is being created about students who are the product of the outdated British education system. Outdated because the O level and A level that we so highly aspire for our children in Pakistan was replaced by GCSE’s and AS levels (some boards still continuing with A level) back in the 1990s.
The British system of education has always been sound and is no doubt one of the best in the world but largely it is still a foreign system.
The so-called elites of Pakistan have always been proud to be the product of the foreign system. However, lately it has been merging into the middle class with a view to upgrading one’s status.
Now students who wish to pursue medicine or engineering in Pakistan are complaining that the entry tests are biased.
It is not only the right of the outstanding students who have spent years studying in the Pakistani system of education to get priority but the policy of having a certain percentage of marks deducted is a positive step to encourage our youngsters in following our own system of education.
Rather than criticising and pressuring the authorities the parents and students who spent a lot of money and time taking so many foreign examinations should realise that the present policy is not biased but in a way discourages people from taking foreign examinations.
I am not a great fan of the present Pakistani system of education and I have spent more than a decade teaching British education in Britain.
I confess that my own children are a product of that system but living in a foreign country makes us realize how important it is to have a sound education system of our own that would be recognised all over the world.
Many would consider me insane if I say that there’s not much wrong with our system, what we actually need is a consistent policy which allows everyone equal opportunity.
Policymakers, educators, teachers, students, parents, all of them need to show willingness to strive for one system of education whether it is matriculation or another Pakistani examination.
Foreign examinations should be banned in Pakistan as it is not only creating a divide but a lot of money is being sent abroad in the name of education.
I’m sure that the students who do well in their O level and A level will also do well in the matriculation examinations. As far as the standards of our system are concerned, the system will automatically change for the better because when the children of the policymakers are being affected, I’m sure they would think twice about implementing something for the sake of their own children.
MRS A. MAHMOOD
Lahore Cantt
Access to drinking water is the basic right of every human being. This assertion, however, does not hold true in the case of people of Jacobabad town.
People of Jacobabad have no access to clean drinking water for the last three decades. The main reason behind the water crisis in this town was dilapidated water pipelines through which water was provided, making it unusable after the water pipelines choked irreparably, thus also carrying sewage with the water.
The underground water in the town is also not usable as it is saltish, thus forcing the citizens to purchase water which is brought on donkey carts from hand-pumps located in the suburbs of the town. The water as such supplied through donkey carts is not always free from contamination. As a result, epidemic diseases like hepatitis have broken out in the town and killing many people.
A project of drinking (potable) water for the town was visualised in 1990. Under the said scheme water was to be fetched from the water canal located a few kilometres away from the town with a water purification plant to be constructed to channel the drinking water to the citizens.
But it has hit snags due to filthy tactics by vested interests for many years. However, the situation finally improved and the dream for purified water seemed to come true as the much-awaited scheme was completed last year.
Later on new pipelines were laid as part of the project and connections allotted to more than three thousand households which duly paid the connection fees of Rs1,010.
Unfortunately, the implementation phase for providing drinking water to the citizens has met another setback, as it is stated that power voltage required to pump water from the canal to the water purification plant and onwards to the households is not sufficient.
The start-up of the scheme has been withheld for the last six months though major works of the scheme have been completed successfully.
I invite attention of the authorities, especially of the president of Pakistan, to resolve this chronic problem of the people of Jacobabad town which they have been facing for the last 30 years.
ABDUL SAMAD CHANNA
Karachi
I WANT to share the ordeal that my family and I went through at Mayo Hospital, Lahore, on Oct 3.
My youngest son (aged three years) had an accident and was bleeding from his head. It was almost 2pm and most of the clinics were closed due to Friday prayers and Eid holidays. So, I took the child along with my wife and second son to Mayo Hospital Emergency.
At the main emergency gate, I came to know that we had to go to child emergency, another building about 200 metres away. When I rushed to the child emergency, the staff at the reception showed ignorance of any such case being entertained.
I wasted another 10 minutes there and someone suggested that such cases are usually sent to surgical child ward which is again located in another building.
We hurried to this place as my wife begged at the reception and nursing station to the duty staff and doctors to attend to the bleeding son but in vain. They said that we should first bring registration slip and then they will see the child.
I said that I would go and bring it but it might take 10 to 15 minutes as the registration counter is in another building and there might be rush at the counter.
However, my child was bleeding profusely and they should start the treatment but they simply refused.
The doctors with a smile on their face sat relaxing on the other side of the table that it was not a life-threatening situation.
I could not stand that smile at such a difficult time and took my child to a private clinic for treatment. I want to inquire from the doctors’ association how justified is this attitude legally, morally or ethically to behave in this way when someone is in trouble.
I also want to request the government of Punjab to look into this matter so that no one else goes through the same suffering at Mayo or any other hospitals.
AAMER SAJJAD
Lahore
The government has increased the support price of wheat by over 50 per cent from Rs625 to Rs950 per 40kg in order to achieve self-sufficiency in wheat production.
However, top planners are oblivious of the fact that by merely increasing the support price of wheat the desired production targets could not be achieved unless the basic input, i.e. water, is abundantly available.
If the government is sincere about the future of the country’s agricultural economy, it should not give irresponsible public statements against the Kalabagh dam, which is beyond doubt a high priority water storage/hydropower project.
Wapda has also deleted the KBD from its Vision 2025, ostensibly on the PPP government’s ill-advice. Wapda is a statutory body created through an act of parliament to chalk out long-term plans for irrigation water requirements and its storage, therefore excluding the KBD from its long-term plan is tantamount to subverting its goals under political pressure.
Wapda should clarify how it envisages to create additional water storage within five/six years without the KBD and what circumstances have compelled it to change its long-term plans.
QASIM IQBAL KHAN
Lahore
IN the Karachi Notebook (Sept 15), the writer of ‘A labour of love’ says: “Uneducated though he (Bihishti Niaz Ahmad who has been filling water in people’s homes since 1953) is, what the country has become saddens him more than other worries.
“This country was achieved after a lot of sacrifices. I pray to God that things become better soon.”
I think that instead of using the adjective ‘uneducated’ for Niaz Ahmad, the writer could have done it by saying:
“What the country has become saddens Niaz Ahmad more than other worries,” because it is not necessary to be educated to have a sense of national loss.
Doesn’t this approach show the mindset of the educated people?
ANAS ANWER KHAN
Via email
MURAD M. Khan in his article, ‘Big pharma and physicians’ (Oct 6), highlights the extremely important corrupting influence of the pharmaceutical industry (a medical device industry) on physicians.
One cannot come up with an example other than in the medical scenario where one person (the physician) is practically handed over his wallet by another person (the patient) in order for the former to spend, without restrictions, the latter’s money, ostensibly for his benefit.
Unbeknown to the patient, however, a third party (the unmentioned pharmaceutical industry) is always a major beneficiary in this transaction, and with the physician also indirectly enriching himself in the process.
This is the reason why this process has to be transparent, without influence and above reproach. That is unfortunately not the case, as highlighted by Dr Khan in his article.
This influence is cultivated since before a student graduates from medical college and grows steadily after his graduation, depending upon the potential ‘worth’ of the physician for the industry.
Medical device prescribers (cardiology stents, orthopedic prostheses, etc), and physicians who ‘move’ more costly medicines like chemotherapeutic medicines etc are obviously of much more value to the industry. Giveaways are accepted as a right. n fact, physicians are known to demand them when they are not forthcoming or fall short of expectations.
Although medical college curricula makes no provisions for imparting training for medical ethics in the vast majority of our medical institutions, a ‘hidden’ curriculum for accepting ‘gifts’ (rightly called bribes by Dr Khan) from the industry is woven seamlessly into medical training.
Holding academic events like seminars or guest lectures with pharmaceutical promotion talks, followed by lavish lunches sponsored by the industry, breaks any inhibitions that the senior medical student or young physician may have in coupling the industry with academia.
This bonding grows in strength as gradually the physician gets used to receiving all the information regarding drugs and devices through glossy advertising material prepared to promote sales through pharmaceutical reps or at ‘drug lunches’ at five-star hotels rather than from objective analysis of information available in academic journals and in meetings.
The most alarming aspect of this unhealthy influence of the industry on the practice of medicine is that the obvious and potentially lethal conflict of interest hidden in this unholy nexus eludes even the most senior medical practitioners. Unfortunately for most it is too late to affect a change.
Our hope lies in the younger physicians and medical students if we wish to break this stranglehold of the industry on the practice of medicine. Public awareness is increasing in this area, as is the discomfort among the medical community.
Even some pharmaceutical companies are also realising that this trend has to be checked. Medical ethics needs to be incorporated in medical education to act as a buffer against such practices passed on down the medical generations. The physicians have to earn back the honour and respect that they once commanded.
DR AAMIR JAFEREY
Centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture, SIUT
Karachi
(II)
THE article by Dr Murad Musa, ‘Big pharma and physicians’ (Oct 6), reminded me of my recent experience in Pakistan. As a PhD scholar in social pharmacy I had to probe many pharmaceutical technocrats via in-depth interviewing.
One of the leading pharmaceutical companies’ MD on inquiring about the profit margin and drug pricing issue lamented: “We are not here for charity or a social cause; we are doing business”.
The marketing head of the same company responded for their drug promotional tactics as “innovative giving due consideration to societal perspective as the company is involved in setting up digital laboratories in medical colleges as well as providing scholarships for needy medical students”.
Two conflicting interests running parallel in the same organisation must have some foresightedness.
We do agree that all fingers always point towards the pharmaceutical industry but why don’t the pharmaceutical companies sense their moral obligations towards developing nations. Why shouldn’t the pharmaceutical companies form a bond of trustworthiness with their clients, developing within themselves an intuition that they will be answerable for their conducts?
As Milton Friedman in 1970 in New York Times stated that “social responsibility of any business is to increase its profit”, pharmaceutical companies are strictly abiding by this.
SHAZIA JAMSHED
Karachi
WE, the female teachers of the Government Girls Secondary School, Bihar Colony No 1, want to draw the attention of the accountant-general of Sindh to the unnecessary delays in our salaries since February.
Initially we were told by our relevant office that our data was not fed in the AG’s office and we will have to submit a fresh application in this regard.
However, after submitting many applications to the AG office, the problem is still not resolved and, as a result, every month we have been receiving our salaries in the last week of the next month via the billing system (instead of through bank account) after paying Rs300 as extra charges.
The AG should take immediate notice of the unjustified delays in our salaries and resolve our problem once for all so that we can receive our salaries in our bank account regularly.
AFFECTED TEACHERS
Karachi
IT is really surprising to note that our chief minister is spending a lot of public money on position holders. Now a trip to Murree has also been arranged for them.
Giving away Rs5 million to one person is unjustified. Besides, teachers are also being paid hefty amounts. This is wasteful expenditure. This precious and scarce money should be spent on other more important matters such as clean drinking water.
The chief minister should himself take a round of Johar Town and see the dilapidated condition of roads. Our resources are scarce and so we should spend them in a prudent and sensible way.
SANA KAMRAN
Lahore
Last date to file asset details by MPs was September 30th. In order to ensure transparency of the process, the Election Commission must probe accuracy and establish the validity of these submissions.
For the sake of strengthening the democratic process, following steps are necessary to be taken by the Election Commission that would help building confidence between people and the government.
1. The Election Commission should post names of MPs and declare asset details on the EC website.
2. Names of the MPs who are defaulted or forged documents should be mentioned.
3. Action should be taken against the defaulter MPs.
4. Information should be released to public and media outlets.
As according to Article 63, the Election Commission has a mandate to decide the disqualification of members of the Parliament and Provisional Assemblies, therefore the public must be informed on the process, status and the reasons of disqualifications. Speakers of the houses and heads of the political parties should also make this information available to public.
If democracy has to be strengthened, then accountability is mandatory.
KADAR
Via email
THIS is with reference to an excellent analysis by Saad Shafqat about the next month’s presidential election in America in his article, ‘Reaching for the impossible’ (Oct 1).
Although a substantial number of Americans are still conservative with growing evangelical influences (which explains why McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate), those who are younger and more educated want a change from the way America is being governed with its international image tarnished during the past eight years.
I am afraid that unless the young and educated voters turn out to vote on Nov 4, Obama’s dream (and for that matter dream of a majority of Americans) may not come true.
The Republican administration is perceived to be good for Pakistan, but what we have learned from their support to military dictators from Gen Ayub Khan to Mr Musharraf and their clan, that they have done a great disfavour to Pakistani people. Let’s hope that with Obama in the White House, democracy will be allowed to flourish in Pakistan and instead of the military being the major beneficiary, it will be the people of Pakistan.
DR MEHTAB S. KARIM
USA
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