THERE are nearly 226,000 doctors in Pakistan, as per the survey done by the Ministry of Finance in 2017-18. Funnily enough, there are around 122,000 doctors registered with the Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), as per its recent data. Some of these may be registered here, but still practising abroad. In any case, for a population of over 220 million, the numbers mean there is at the most one doctor for every 1,000 patients on an average.

In a situation like this, another important factor in the equation is the number of doctors moving abroad for the promise of three times the salary, better life and better work-life balance. Social media trends are definitely playing a major role. They see their colleagues, who started at the same time as they did, but after what seems like a short span, they are way ahead of them in financial terms with a high feel-good factor about their lives. The ones who do not leave mostly end up wondering why they never thought of such an option.

In such a scenario, the doctors who had left the country and now want to return represent a key community. The primary pull force is almost always family or parents, followed closely by culture and religion. Those for whom the second set of reasons is primary generally go to the Middle East for obvious reasons. Under these circumstances, the odds are never in our favour. All that we can hope to do is to optimise the use of those who return for family reasons. Do we have a plan to do that? Hardly.

We are losing a prime resource that we acquired after investing millions of rupees. I am sure it is not confined to doctors alone. We are losing basically just about every professional who can and wants to leave.

While moving back to Pakistan, we were questioned by our friends and family what we would do there. We felt and still feel all eyes were and are on us; whether we succeed here or fail will help many others make this critical decision.

Most Pakistani doctors have an intense desire to come back to the country of their origin, and to their parents. They want to show their children the love, family and cultural values they experienced in their younger days.

Money is never going to be the reason for doctors to return to Pakistan. Not because they do not want it or need it, but because they were, and are, making much more abroad. Those who return are realistic enough to make the financial compromise. But if the returning doctors can find an institution that respects the work they do and makes them feel welcome, they are more than satisfied. Once the number of ‘satisfied repatriates’ grows, others will come back in numbers. But the million-dollar question is: will Pakistan welcome these natives?

Dr Rubia Usman
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2022