Find Health and Medical expertise in Pakistan

Pakistan’s Ministry of Health reports that there are almost 1,000 hospitals along with 5,000 basic health centres operating throughout the country. The largest hospitals are called tertiary care facilities, of which there are around 20, mostly located in the major cities. The private medical sector is largely funded using a fee-for-service system and serves some 70% of the country’s population. This high uptake of private health care is partly due to many employers, such as the army and Pakistan Railways, offering in-house medical provision.

Pakistan has a small but growing pharmaceutical industry, which sold around US$1.8 billion worth of products in 2010. The industry is split between domestic and multinational companies, with large multinationals having specific Pakistani divisions operating in the country.

Pakistan has a multi-tiered and mixed health care delivery system, which is administered mainly by the private sector. Public health facilities are adequate in urban sectors of society, but lacking in more rural areas. Following a consultative process with a consortium of civil service organisations, development experts and marginalised people, a Post-2015 Development Framework Report on Pakistan was compiled. The report, conducted by Global Call to Action Against Poverty and Beyond 2015, looked at specific priority areas for the country in the years following the MDGs. Access to health care facilities in Pakistan was highlighted in the report as being of particular concern and it was suggested that efforts are needed to improve availability of health care, in particular maternal and neonatal facilities, in rural areas.

Communicable and non-communicable diseases

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Pakistan accounted for an estimated 51% of all mortality in 2012. The most prevalent NCDs in Pakistan are cardiovascular diseases, which accounted for 19% of total deaths across all age groups in 2012. Cancer, non-communicable variants of respiratory diseases and diabetes contributed 8%, 6% and 3% to total mortality, respectively (2012). Communicable diseases along with maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions in Pakistan accounted for an estimated 38% of all mortality in 2012. The prevalence of HIV in Pakistan, as a percentage of people aged 15–49 years, was less than 0.1% in 2013, a figure which has remained unchanged since 1990. In 2012 there were 290,781 reported cases of malaria in the country. The number of reported cases of malaria had been increasing consistently since 2008, before dropping slightly in 2011–12; the number of fatalities from the disease rose significantly in 2011–12, from four deaths to 260. There has been no significant reduction in estimated incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in the period 1990–2013, while estimated mortality (when mortality data excludes cases comorbid with HIV) has nearly halved over this time.

Infant mortality in Pakistan was 67 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2014, with an under-five mortality rate of 86 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2013. There has been a consistent decline in the under-five mortality rate since 1990. Although this decline is encouraging, the under-five mortality rate is not yet in line with the country’s target of 46 deaths per 1,000 live births, as defined by Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4).

Government expenditure

Less than a third of health care in Pakistan (31%) was government funded in 2012. The remaining 69% was paid for by patients or funded by other non-governmental entities, such as private insurers, charities or employers. Total health expenditure constituted 3.1% of GDP in 2012.

In 2013 government expenditure on health was 1% of GDP. In the most recent survey, conducted between 1997 and 2010, there were 83 doctors, and 57 nurses and midwives per 100,000 people. Additionally, in 2013, 52% of births were attended by qualified health staff and 61% of one-year-olds were immunised with a dose of measles. In 2014, 91% of people were using an improved drinking water source and 62% had access to adequate sanitation facilities. The most recent survey, conducted in the period 2000–11, reports that Pakistan has five pharmaceutical personnel per 100,000 people.

Pakistan has signed and ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which includes ‘the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’. The covenant commits signees to providing healthy and hygienic environmental conditions, controlling epidemic diseases, improving child health and facilitating access to health services without discrimination.

Health and Medical organisations in Pakistan
Family Health Hospital Islamabad
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