The Arabian proverb is, ‘He who has health has hope, and he who has hope, has everything’. Health and wealth create beauty; one without the other is an imbalance of significant magnitude. The two must remain complimentary; only in their co-existence is there a life of comfort. One is not better than the other; however, if a choice has to be made between the two, it obviously has to be health.
Health is a critical factor in the growth of any country. A healthy population is a guarantee for enhancing labour productivity, increasing efficiency and increasing long-term economic stability. There are studies which evidence that an increase of one year improvement in life expectancy can lead to a 4 percent increase in economic output.
It is only when afflicted with sickness that one begins to value good health. Being alive is insufficient. One has to live well. ‘Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of; a blessing that money cannot buy’. (Izaak Walton)
Generally speaking and more so in the context of developed countries people pay taxes for the fact that their governments, take full responsibility for taking care of their needs especially health care. Sickness takes complete economic toll upon families. A person who earns say between the minimum wage of rupees 40,000-100,000 would find himself in a perilous position if God forbid any member of the family were to fall sick. If he decides to visit a government hospital the mind would start to contemplate if the sick person would return on their feet or return in a shroud.
Hospitals in our country are in a pitiable state. The doctors on duty are hardly available in clinics. The process of getting to see a doctor in itself is an ordeal that no healthy person would want to undertake, let alone a sick person.
The doctors treat the underprivileged patients with disdain and disinterestedness. The attitude is not merely casual but also callous. Most lack both, sympathy and empathy. Visit to any of the government hospitals across the country, one wouldn’t be surprised to see long queues of men, women and children — all in suffering; waiting endlessly for attention. The housemaids and helpers are handled as if they were afflicted with leprosy. The few islands of excellence, which are a consequence of individual doctor’s attention and sense of duty are far and few. These cannot match the demands of the growing health issues of the society.
The private hospitals are a rip-off. The fees for consultation are atrociously high. The prescribed medicines are usually very expensive. The test / examinations that are required are also priced expensively. Together these sums directly impact the household’s monthly budget. Regrettably, many lower middle income group families and even the relatively secured middle class has to make a choice between making payments for healthcare or to undergo non-payment for utilities. Some, it is learnt, have to pull the children out of school so that they can use the saved school fees for meeting medical expenses. Sickness or ill-health comes on a horseback and departs on foot — do we have to experience ill-health as a society to develop sympathy for those who are sick? Do people have to flirt with death to be able to get attention for medical treatment?
After education, the development of an effective Human Capital base within the economy the need is for having in place a proper healthcare system. Possibly on any index of measurement, we should rank the lowest in relation to availability of healthcare facilities. The issue so simple as the need to have a healthy work force for economic growth doesn’t dawn upon the policy makers. Those who have a degree in medical sciences are allocated portfolios relating to commerce, industry and economy; while those who have no formal education or have studied social sciences are given the ‘health ministry portfolio’. And then, with such flawed thinking, we expect Manna and quail to rain upon this blessed land!
There is no serious fight or argument made to see greater budget allocation for healthcare — instead the focus is on licensing of drugs, imports of related pharmaceutical raw material; and this is for obvious reasons which certainly do not fall within the ambit of any noble cause.
The per capita health expenditure is at an embarrassingly jovial low of USD 20 only; USA is at USD 14750 and Singapore is at USD 9963: even Bangladesh is better than us at USD 27.9. (The OECD countries averages USD 14885). The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in Pakistan is at 56/1000 live births (this is to say that out of every 1000 children born, 56 of them die prematurely as infants). In comparison, Switzerland has the same index at 3.3 per 1000 live births; Singapore has 1.7 per 1000 live births and shockingly even Bangladesh has a lower IMR of 24/1000 live births.
As regards the maternal mortality ratio (MMR), Pakistan is at 186/100,000 live births this is to say during child birth out of 100,000 women 186 of these mothers die - of various reasons, ranging from medical complications to sheer negligence. This MMR for USA stands at 19, Singapore is at 7, Switzerland is at 5, India is at 103 and even Bangladesh is at a lower ranking than ours at 103.
In the context of child malnutrition the USA is at 3.4 percent stunting, Singapore is less than 2 percent, Switzerland is less than 2 percent , India stunning ratio is at 35.5 percent, Bangladesh is at 28 percent and Pakistan stunting rate is at 34.8 percent. The life expectancy in the USA is 78.4 years, Singapore is at 84 years, Switzerland is at 84.3 years, India is at 70.8 years, Bangladesh is at 72 and Pakistan is at a low of 67.5 years.
The corporates and other business organisations take upon themselves the high financial responsibility of providing for healthcare facilities for their staff, specially, these are linked with some sort of an insurance cover. Since medical expenses are on the increase it is best that those who can afford must take an entrepreneurial challenge of providing for the staff free medical insurance.
Proper healthcare facilities contribute effectively towards poverty reduction. An efficient and working health sector also enables innovation and job creation. There are no accurate numbers of how many people are employed directly and indirectly in the health sector. Better health care facilities by the state can ease the pains and burden of the economic cost arising out of injury, disease and various sicknesses.
The major challenges in our own healthcare design are in relation to availability of hospitals, clinics and doctors. Cumulatively, there are 1284 hospitals of every size and dimension with total beds capacity of 151,661; this is certainly insufficient for a population of over 240 million. The number of doctors and nurses available in these units totals 127,855 doctors and 127.857 nurses; again this is an indication of a major shortfall of the optimum medical workforce required for a growing population of 240 million people. We are also unequipped in creating digital health and HR systems.
The WHO document on healthcare states: ‘health systems are important contributors to health outcomes and human wellbeing. They are also central to effective functioning of the economy … ill health has substantial economic consequences’.
Health economists evaluate the costs and benefits of medical treatment, intervention and the value of public health policies. The use of resources must result in maximum optimisation of healthcare delivery apparatus for the population. Health has a major positive and statistically proven effect on economic growth. It is time therefore to awaken our numb senses towards the health requirements of our young and youthful population.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
The writer is a Senior Banker & Freelance Contributor