HEALTHCARE in Pakistan is a footnote. Claims by successive governments to introduce vast reforms with huge schemes ring hollow. Since healthcare has never appeared on the priority lists of rulers and political parties, citizens are left to endlessly grapple with gruesome ground realities. Recently, shocking videos about a woman giving birth in a Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre washroom went viral on social media, bringing the scourge of abysmal healthcare delivery to the front burner of public concern. The committee instituted to investigate found grave gaps in patient care; instead of prompt medical valuation, the pregnant woman was advised to “walk around despite being in labour”. Such imprecision at the largest hospital in Karachi exposes both the substandard state of medical and paramedical training and the lack of institutional provisions for quality control.

Human capital is assessed against two main markers: education and health. Where the latter is concerned, constant news of misdiagnoses, fake drugs and full-blown disasters has not stirred officialdom. Although resources are mostly directed to tertiary health facilities, primary healthcare and maternal and infant well-being — the core of any healthcare system — need urgent intervention. Additionally, medics and staff must always observe scientific protocols that not only keep quacks away but also prevent hazards. While unscrupulous elements responsible for the gross medical negligence at JPMC should be fined and suspended from duty, senior officers must also face accountability. It is high time our policymakers collaborated with international experts to upgrade and expand the healthcare system. Without uniform regulations, proper investment, incentives and skills, discomfort, irreversible debilities and deaths will persist. A 2024 WHO report says Pakistan is far behind the global universal healthcare benchmark of 80pc. Decades of infrastructural decay mean that a care ecosystem cannot be delayed anymore.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2026