SOME days ago, Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo lauded nurses on International Nursing Day and promised to take measures to improve their condition in the province. His remarks call for revisiting some shared moral principles regarding what is required of a healthcare professional working in resource-limited settings such as Balochistan. What makes people …“zealously seek to nurse those who are ill wherever they may be and whenever they are in need” as the Nightingale Pledge for Nurses asserts? From the outside, healthcare workers have a way of making it seem as if working together, analysing multiple health crises — even during unceasing conflict — is effortless. However, the paucity of professionals willing to live and able to work in Balochistan tells a different story altogether. A healthcare provider’s mission is to deliver care to those in need despite the human rights violations they themselves face, with human dignities remaining unaddressed. But the very presence of healthcare professionals working in resource-poor, conflict-affected areas within Balochistan advocates for human welfare in impossible contexts — something nurses do even if they have to endure challenges to their dignity and care.

Across the world, the four aspects of healthcare most ignored are mental health, hygiene, vaccination and emergency care for vulnerable populations. Balochistan is no exception. In a world built to sustain modern nation-state systems, vulnerable populations in perpetual transit are referred to as internally displaced persons, asylum-seekers, migrants and other groups of men, women and children who have no permanent abode. The nomadic groups in Balochistan can also thus be classified as vulnerable populations. Nurses in Balochistan strive to provide crucial and timely medical support to these populations, doctors and surgeons. In addition, their invaluable emotional support to these vulnerable groups often goes unrecognised. Considering the dire healthcare situation in his province, Mr Bizenjo should act on his pledges and ensure that nurses have the backing they need to provide services to the population.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2018