ISLAMABAD:Member of National Assembly Dr. Nisar Ahmed Cheema on Wednesday said that the parliament has an important role to safeguard and ensure equitable access to health services for vulnerable and marginalized groups of society.
While chairing the follow-up session on “Ensuring Equitable Access to Health” at National Meet on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2022, Dr. Nisar said that the state has the responsibility to ensure better healthcare and the prevention of epidemics.
He urged to further improve the basic health care delivery system and health management system at a grassroots level. He added that under the constitution, health is a primary responsibility of the provincial governments while federal and provincial governments are responsible for ensuring a basic health care system for citizens.
Deputy Chief Health Sector Reforms, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr. Atta Ullah Khan informed that the KP government has invested a sufficient amount in the health sector to improve the health care delivery system of the province.
He said that a number of initiatives have been taken to improve the standard of the secondary health care system, he added.
Dr. Mahreen Razzaque Bhutto from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) identified key challenges in the health sector and added that the country couldn’t get success to have a national health insurance system. She said that 78 percent of the population bears healthcare expenses on their own resources.
She said the malnutrition issue contributes to the high number of maternal and neonatal deaths in the country. She added the country was facing a burden on its health system due to non-communicable diseases like malaria and diarrhea, being the leading cause of deaths and morbidity in the last two decades.
She said that the country has a shortage of doctors and para-medical staff in the hospitals. She said no specialized training was being provided to health professionals regarding the pandemic.
The participants were of the view that all stakeholders at the federal and provincial level should work together to gain success in health sector reforms.
They said that through reforms in the health sector, the government will be able to improve the health of over 200 million people and play an effective role in the stability and development of the country’s economy.