Pakistan’s overburdened healthcare system can provide better relief to the people through the implementation of certain targeted measures and streamlining of services. The healthcare system in its current form is a hybrid of public and private healthcare providers. Spending on healthcare is roughly around 3 percent of GDP, with the share of public sector healthcare spending at 1.2 percent of GDP.
There is a lopsided reliance on the private sector, which is evident through the out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure on health, which is more than 60 percent in Pakistan. The private sector is generally unregulated and serves the urban, and the relatively wealthy segments of society. There is rampant price gouging, but little to show for it in terms of quality. There are several dysfunctional areas of the healthcare system that can be optimised to redistribute the burden on existing facilities for the benefit of the people. Read Full Article
