KARACHI, Dec 22: The national and provincial assemblies are full of people having fake bachelor’s degrees who often behave like political quacks, said MNA Dr Farooq Sattar at a scientific event on Monday.

He said this in response to a disturbing presentation on the status of healthcare in Pakistan which had sparked off a debate on issues in governance. This presentation, which transformed the scientific event into a debate on the political system, had been made by Dr Shershah Syed of the Pakistan Medical Association.

The event at which the gynaecologist and the politician locked horns was organized jointly by the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America (APPNA) and Sindh Medical College Alumni Association of North America (SMCAANA) in a local hotel.

Dr Farooq Sattar said there was no use discussing medical quackery when the nation was at the mercy of so many ‘political quacks’. “When there is a cancerous tumour in the skull of our polity, there is no use prescribing panadol for the resultant headache.”

The MNA was of the view that common people, who had a say in the affairs of their country during the pre-partition era, had been systematically deprived of their powers since independence. Decision-making, he opined, had become concentrated in the hands of two per cent of the Pakistanis.

“No matter what the Nazims and some MNAs may think, it is these two per cent Pakistanis who call the shots. Included in this elite group of people are the military bureaucrats, civilian bureaucrats and feudal lords.”

Some politicians, including those apparently running the local bodies, might think that they were running the show. “No, every political vehicle is being remotely controlled by the two per cent Pakistanis I have talked about.”

Dr Sattar said there was a need to completely overhaul the country’s political system. “But for the last two years, I see light at the end of the tunnel. I see a basic fundamental change in the way policies are made.”

The MNA was of the view that the government had created a small opening for the betterment of the country’s common people and so there was now some hope for them.

Speaking of contradictions in the state’s policies, Dr Sattar said for more than 55 years the Pakistanis were told, perhaps several times a day, that Kashmir was the country’s ‘jugular vein’. “But now we are being told that the United Nation’s resolutions on Kashmir may be ignored.

“Now, let me ask you, which was the correct policy, the old one or the new one. If the old policy was wrong, we would like to ask why the nation was fed lies for more than 55 years.”

He said the provinces should be given maximum autonomy. The issue of Kashmir must be resolved within the next two years and the feudal system must be rooted out. “This is the only solution to our ills.”

Earlier, Dr Shershah Syed, in his presentation, had said that a state obsessed with creating strategic depth on its western borders, and also some nuclear weapons, could never invest sufficient amounts in healthcare. Not long ago he had sent about 1,700 letters to the country’s legislators describing in detail the poor state of affairs obtaining in the country’s healthcare institutions and medical colleges, he said.

“In response, I got only 13 acknowledgements in all. But I am satisfied that I have done my bit in informing the MNAs and MPAs of the true situation,” said Dr Syed.

He pointed out that the United Kingdom spent 16 per cent of its budget on health care. “And on defence, the country spends only 18 per cent.” In comparison Pakistan spent too much on defence.

Dr Syed said the country’s physicians did not demand outlandish salaries. “The doctors only seek reasonable salaries, say between Rs15,000 and Rs25,000. And they demand a reasonable accommodation and also security to work at peace.”

He said failure on the part of the government and legislators to cater to the basic needs of the physicians and surgeons had resulted in a massive brain drain.

He said there was more emphasis on creating medical universities than on improving the standard of education in the country’s medical colleges. “Go and visit some of the medical colleges in the interior. You will see that there is a lot of room for improvement.”

Prof Anwer Naqvi of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation spoke at length about the services provided at his institution.

Dr Rizwan Naeem discussed in detail the peace initiative launched last year by some Pakistani and Indian doctors in the United States. He said people from all walks of life were invited to join the initiative.