PAKISTAN is on top of Asian countries with 52pc males and 53pc females dying of non-communicable diseases under the age of 70 every year. The country bears the brunt of having the highest rate of breast cancer patients in South Asia with 60 to 70pc in advanced stages.

We are ranked among the top 10 countries globally with diabetes patients whereas 50pc of our adult population suffers from hypertension. The federal government allocated a budget of just Rs22bn for healthcare for 2016-17. One can imagine with what seriousness these life-threatening diseases can be dealt with in a land that inhabits 200m people.

Lack of basic necessities of life, impure food, contaminated water, polluted environment, hectic lifestyle, unemployment and dependence on a single breadwinner are some of the other reasons for the spread of non-communicable diseases. Government policies are weak and the country is a breeding ground for untrained physicians and quacks posing themselves as qualified doctors.

They play with the lives of those afflicted by various diseases. Non-availability of medicines and sale of spurious drugs add to the misery of the sufferers. The authorities seem to be least interested as no policy has been devised or measures taken to address the gravity of serious diseases.

Kashif Mustafa Qadri

Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2017