2011 ends with added miseries for patients

Rawalpindi The year 2011 ended up with added miseries for the poor patients for whom the cost of treatment is about to get out of reach as in the last one year, the prices of almost all medicines and surgical equipment have witnessed 50 per cent to 200 per cent increase. The cost of treatment of communicable and non-communicable diseases along with cost of all sorts of surgeries has almost become unaffordable not only for poor but also for those belonging to middle class of the society. According to health experts, both the federal and the provincial governments have done nothing to facilitate general public in the health sector. The year 2011 further increased miseries of patients in the public sector hospitals in the province and the federal capital. Many health experts say that the health system has become at its worst mainly because the government has not been giving due attention to regulate prices of even life saving and essential drugs. Also it is important that a number of pharmaceutical companies have been supplying their products in markets in limited quantity for months creating their artificial shortage. Even a number of life saving drugs are not available in most of the markets because the manufacturers wanted increase in their prices. After a severe dengue fever outbreak in Punjab, even one of the most common medicine paracetamol was not available in most of the markets. A number of other common medicines including aspirin and painkillers were also not available in the markets throughout the year. The concerned government authorities, however, did not pay due attention to the issue and announced no effective policy for regulating drugs prices or for availability of medicines in all markets. According to estimates, at present a victim of road traffic accident has to spend over Rs50,000 for minor surgery while for major surgery, the victim has to spend over Rs100,000. “Also there is no standard policy for registration of pharmaceutical companies and the government has not given due attention to the issue this year too,” said Chairman Young Doctors Association Punjab Dr Muhammad Haroon while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday. Also a number of doctors and chemists are taking illegitimate commissions from the pharmaceutical companies for promotion of their products and they prescribe either substandard or expensive medicines to poor patients for their vested interests, added Dr Haroon. He said that the government did not do anything to check the malpractice in the year 2011. To a query, Dr Haroon said that the public sector hospitals continued to purchase the lowest quality medicines, equipment and accessories in the last year that could not give desired results. “The patients are seldom satisfied with the medicines available at public sector hospitals as they fail to improve their condition in ailments.” He said that in the year 2012, the YDA would focus on convincing the provincial government to improve healthcare facilities for the poor patients. The YDA also demands the government to take the matter of drugs price control seriously and proper monitoring and inspection of drugs should be done at all tertiary care hospitals, he said. Source: The News Muhammad Qasim Sunday, January 01, 2012

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