News Desk
Pakistan’s health sector is lurching from crisis to collapse. In Sindh alone, more than 75 per cent of top‑tier technical posts in the health management cadre lie vacant at a time when the province is battling simultaneous outbreaks of HIV, mpox, measles, malaria and dengue.
According to officials, the cadre — responsible for running hospitals, coordinating emergency response and shaping public‑health strategy — has 70 sanctioned Grade‑20 posts, but 53 remain unfilled. Promotions have been stalled for six years, leaving only 17 officers to manage the entire system.
These officers once led rapid‑response committees during outbreaks. The last such body was formed in 2018 to tackle Naegleria fowleri, tasked with mapping vulnerable areas, testing water supplies and enforcing WHO‑standard chlorination. No equivalent structure exists today, even as disease numbers surge.
Officials warn that the leadership vacuum has left communities dangerously exposed.
“It’s unfortunate that specialist positions remain empty when the province faces multiple health emergencies,” one senior officer said. “We simply do not have the technical capacity to anticipate or contain outbreaks.”
The health department admits delays in promotions but says new inductions are not allowed under existing rules. Instead, it has hired 2,000 Grade‑17 doctors and plans more junior appointments — a move critics say does little to fix the leadership deficit.
The numbers paint a grim picture:
- 33 mpox cases reported in Sindh between January and April 23
- 40 children dead from measles this year
- 159 paediatric HIV cases recorded in Karachi hospitals
- First Congo fever death recently confirmed
But the most alarming development is unfolding nationwide.
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has issued a blistering warning: the widespread manufacture and use of reusable syringes, despite a countrywide ban, risks triggering a “man‑made epidemic”.
The PMA says syringes falsely labelled as auto‑disable — but functioning as reusable — have entered the market due to regulatory failure. It directly blames the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and provincial health authorities for a “catastrophic lapse”.
“This is not a bureaucratic error. It is a direct assault on the lives of millions,” the PMA said, warning that rising HIV cases could spiral into an uncontrollable national emergency.
Pakistan already has 350,000 to 369,000 people living with HIV. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, Sindh recorded 894 new cases, including 329 children. Child HIV infections have tripled since 2010. Over 1,100 children died of AIDS‑related complications in 2023 — many linked to reused syringes and unsafe medical practices.
Pakistan also carries the second‑highest burden of Hepatitis C globally, a number projected to hit 12.6 million by 2030 without urgent intervention.
The PMA accuses DRAP of failing to monitor manufacturing hubs, especially in the Gadoon Amazai industrial zone, and says provincial health commissions have failed to curb quack clinics that routinely reuse syringes.
The association has demanded:
- an audit of all syringe‑manufacturing units
- seizure of non‑compliant stocks
- legal action against violators
- a nationwide awareness campaign to help citizens identify genuine auto‑disable syringes
With senior posts empty, outbreaks rising and counterfeit syringes circulating freely, Pakistan’s health sector is confronting a perfect storm of mismanagement and regulatory collapse.
For a country already struggling with some of the world’s worst health indicators, the warning is stark: without immediate corrective action, Pakistan risks sliding into a preventable public‑health disaster.
