Category Archives: Health

Little stress on women’s health

Health, Women

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

MORE appalling than the state of the reproductive health of women in Pakistan is the ignorance shown by our policymakers and leaders of opinion about the silent suffering of women.

Dr Shershah Syed, the president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Pakistan, who is one of the most outspoken critics of the government’s health policy, recalled the other day his encounter with political leaders before the 2002 elections. The PMA had arranged a meeting with party representatives to brief them about women’s health. Thus the doctors hoped to enlist the cooperation of the prospective parliamentarians in health matters after the election.
Continue reading Little stress on women’s health →

Missing factors in health education

Education, Health

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

THE good news from the medical sector is that Dr Azhar Faruqui, the enterprising director of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi, has taken the initiative to establish a paediatric cardiology unit at the NICVD.

This will be the first of its kind in Karachi. Lahore already has one such unit. Until now, infants needing cardiac surgery did not have many choices and many of them went abroad for simple corrective surgical procedures if their lives were to be saved.

Some medical professionals resent it that patients are taken to India when similar procedures can be performed here. But the fact is that the facilities here are very limited. Recently, Shabina, who runs the Garage School for children of the katchi abadis in Clifton and also arranges for the healthcare of her students and their families when needed, took Maxwell Happy, aged 14 months, to Chennai for a congenital heart problem that needed corrective surgery. Doctors in Karachi had refused treatment saying they did not have the post-operative care facilities to perform the operation on such a young child.

It is therefore heartening for children like Maxwell that the NICVD will be setting up a unit for paediatric cardiology. Dr Azhar Faruqui told media representatives that he plans hiring the services of foreign surgeons and anaesthesiologists for the paediatric unit.
Continue reading Missing factors in health education →

And now transplant tourism

Health, Organ Trade and Donation

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

IT IS ironical that at a time when the Pakistan government has dismally failed to promote the tourist trade, some unethical transplant surgeons in Lahore and Islamabad have succeeded in firmly placing the country on the world map of ‘transplant tourism’.

This is not something to be proud of as it is bringing a bad name to the country and also its medical profession.
Continue reading And now transplant tourism →

Suicide & mental health

Health

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

THE Pakistan Association for Mental Health will be looking into various aspects of the problem of suicide when it observes mental health day belatedly on Sunday. PAMH has been working for decades to create awareness about mental health and has managed to educate the public somewhat about the common disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and personality problems.

But suicide per se has not received the attention it should have, given its growing prevalence. Informed public awareness of this issue is negligible.
Continue reading Suicide & mental health →

Our profit-driven drug industry

Health

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

AT the inauguration of the Hanifa Suleman Dawood Centre of Oncology, the director of SIUT, Dr Adib Rizvi, promised to launch a movement against the spiralling prices of drugs. His concern at what can be described as the anti-social strategies of pharmaceutical manufacturers is quite valid.

The Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation in Karachi, prescribing to the maxim ‘health is the birthright of every man’, provides free medical treatment to every patient who enters its portal.

Since the bulk of SIUT’s budget comes from public donations and it is always looking around for funds, it has to be extra mindful of its spending. It is, therefore, worrying for it that 38 per cent of its budget goes towards financing the cost of medicines alone. This trend is nothing unusual. The Pakistan Association of Mental Health, which runs a free clinic for indigent patients and provides drugs free of charge to quite a substantial number of patients, spends 25 per cent of its budget on medicines. It may be noted that PAMH’s formulary includes only the lower-priced items.
Continue reading Our profit-driven drug industry →