The cat looked very comfortable on the stretcher in the corner; she was asleep with so much peace that even a dog would have hated to disturb her. After envying her indifference towards the realities around I walked towards the area where my sister was admitted, remembering that it was a hospital meant for humans and the cat could not be kept out because administration was busy in more important things like acting as indifferent as the cat! (and their indifference was obvious in many other administrative aspects of the hospital)
Above mentioned experience has been shared not because of the healthy cat but because of General standards followed in Hospitals of Lahore and those are worth criticism not because of comparison with developed world but because of basic human values. Throughout Lahore, all the known hospitals are almost all the time crowded and due to so much (Business) activity, management can get away with almost everything especially compromised cleaning and maintenance standards.
People from interior Punjab are not likely to get much facility in Local Health care units and established hospitals. Poor infrastructure discourages urban doctors for moving away from the cluster towards lesser developed areas so this is one reason why at the larger hospitals we see Families of the patients resting on ground Mats lying in corridors outside the wards and in the parks outside the hospitals. Such people are not likely to mind a cat’s presence when they themselves have come from where there was no established hospital at all.
According to World Health Organization (WHO) provided figures for the Year 2008 only 1.5% of the total Pakistani budget is being spent on Health so following figures are very much obvious
Year 2007
Physicians per 10000 population 12.0
Dentists per 10000 population 8.0
Pharmacists per 10000 population 1.0
Nursing and midwifery personnel per 10000 population 0.9
Hospital beds per 10000 population 10.0
Primary health care units and centers 1.7
Justifying negligence and Poor administrative abilities under the curtain of Poverty and work load should not be the case with people responsible for human lives but this cold attitude has its own grounds.
Any child who wants to be a doctor works really hard to get enough marks in Matric for getting admission with Pre medical courses and than in F.Sc and than in entry test and than in MBBS and than after one year of House Job in FCPS part one and than after three years of training in FCPS part two. If he clears all of these exams in the first attempt(which is not likely to be the case due to percentile selection being followed in FCPS exams) still he would complete his basic education at the age of about 29 only to discover that there is no Government infrastructure to place him any where and he has to find a Job of about 15-25 thousands to begin with (An average MBA who completes his Post graduation at the age of about 22 starts under similar slabs but starts a career many years earlier with a much larger Job opportunities as spread across many industries).
After many years of hard work and a great deal of luck when a doctor finally starts earning than may be he just focuses on maximizing revenues rather than expenses associated with maintenance of the environment and even if he does ,does it to charge more from the patients.
Considering the issues related to medical field in Pakistan not much can be said but just imagine if people from every profession especially Fire fighters, Police and Army start justifying negligence on similar grounds. Than there might be cats everywhere with no one to bother about their presence.
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