Most government-run institutions are a complete shit show, and unfortunately this isn’t just some abstract opinion, I’ve seen the system from the inside.
Staff are underpaid, doctors are chronically overworked and underpaid, hospitals are understaffed, budgets are inadequate, basic sanitation and infection-control standards can be questionable, and political interference from MSs/directors often makes an already dysfunctional system worse. When you combine exhausted staff, inadequate resources, weak accountability and political interference, you get exactly the kind of institutional failures people complain about.
I’ve worked across private, government and CMH settings. Private institutions are generally better, although they have their own problems, including negligence and inconsistent training. CMHs, in my experience, are remarkably well run considering the patient volume they handle. Government hospitals are a different story. You can walk in expecting healthcare and end up wondering whether the institution itself is creating additional risks.
And this isn’t just about medicine. Look at PIA, public-sector administration, basic healthcare units, infrastructure and countless other government-run services. At some point, you have to stop pretending every failure is an isolated incident or military's fault. There is a systemic problem with governance, management, accountability and resource allocation.
Even in dentistry, I’ve seen how bad things can get. DEMONT, one of Lahore’s major government dental institutions, is reusing instruments after wiping them with alcohol/disinfectant rather than properly sterilizing them. That kind of practice can create a serious risk of transmitting blood-borne infections such as hepatitis B and C and, HIV. That is exactly the reason HIV is substantially spreading in Pakistan.
I’m a dentist, and I have plenty of family members in medicine, so I’ve seen enough of both the clinical and institutional sides to know this isn’t simply doctors being lazy or patients being difficult. A huge number of healthcare workers are working under terrible conditions and doing their best. The problem is the system surrounding them.
If the state wants to run healthcare, then run it properly: fund it, staff it, enforce infection-control standards, audit institutions, remove political interference, and hold administrators accountable.
Honestly I've given up, anything that is government run is just a hazard at this point.
www.bbc.co.uk
