DAWN January 9, 2022
Globally, governments are being urged to come up with strategies to expand affordable and quality healthcare to their populations under the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for health. As a signatory to the UN 2030 Agenda, Pakistan has committed to moving towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the upfront global target for all countries under the UN, which includes the full spectrum of essential, quality health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care across the life course.
Pakistan has a large private health sector which is very much entrenched in the DNA of the country’s health system. Overstretched government delivery systems, because of increasing population and inadequately staffed and stocked government facilities, have led to private...