APROPOS Abbas Nasir’s article ‘ Image to haunt Shahbaz Sharif ‘. The video of an elderly poor lady dying on the floor of Lahore’s Jinnah Hospital went viral, and the media, while highlighting the issue, sadly failed to focus on factors responsible for the collapse of our health system.

The question is: were sufficient beds available in the hospital where she could have been accommodated? Is it fair to suspend MS of the hospital when the state itself has not allocated sufficient funds in health?

Has elected government and paid bureaucracy not erred by its failure to enforce essential regulatory controls on supply of unadulterated basic food items like milk etc and pharmaceutical drugs?

The institutionalised corruption and conflicts of interest of our political and bureaucratic elite, who are involved in trade and private businesses, in violation of the internationally accepted Islamic code of ethics, has made life miserable for citizens of Pakistan, a country created by Quaid-i-Azam to function as a modern democratic welfare state and not a fiefdom hostage to insatiable greed of the few.

For any government-owned hospital to have capacity to serve the people in need, funds are required.

This can only happen if taxes are collected from all who earn above a declared threshold and not through frequent tax amnesty schemes, which encourage black economy and tax evasion. If elected custodians continue to facilitate tax evasion by allowing a bare minimum levy of 3pc tax on millions of profit being earned by beneficiaries of state allotment schemes, it would be fate of the poor to die on the floor of state-owned hospitals.

Malik Tariq Ali

Lahore

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2017