KARACHI, June 1: Speakers at a seminar held at the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences and Technology (Fuuast) on Friday said that human capital was being carelessly ignored in the country and generally, it was considered as a burden on resources.

They said this capital, after value addition (i.e. education and training), could be turned into a strength, as was the case in China and other developed countries.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Department of Mass Communication, Fuuast, and an NGO, Piler.

Dr Tipu Sultan, President of Pakistan Doctors for Peace and Development, said the people of South Asia were struggling for survival, growth and development and about half of the population in the region was forced to live under the poverty line.

Referring to statistics, he said safe drinking water, one of the basic requirements for human survival, was not available to 60-70 per cent of the people in South Asia. The public health expenditure was only 0.9 to 1.5 per cent of the GDP; education expenditures were only a meagre 1.2 to 2.1 per cent while military spending was mounting at the cost of human development.

Questioning the rationale for the extension of the ‘Health for All-2000’ programme to the year 2015, Dr Sultan asked the authorities to quote the reasons why they had not been able to achieve the target by 2000. He said that the programme would likely be extended to 2030.

Referring to the scenario in Pakistan he said more than 80 per cent of the population had no access to primary health care, emergency obstetric care and emergency health care, while tertiary care is out of the question.

Dr Sultan also questioned the rationale behind what he termed the nuclear mania among the various countries of the world. He said all the global nuclear powers went nuclear in the name of deterrence, which was done at the cost of human development, specifically in India and Pakistan.

Tauseef Ahmed Khan, Chairman, Department of Mass Communication, Fuuast, said that had the Z.A. Bhutto government concentrated on the generation of power instead of creating an atomic bomb, the present electricity crisis would not have arisen.

A good number of students and teachers of the university participated in the seminar.