Waheed Zaib Baloch
Highlighting and discussing the problems is not a new thing in case of Balochistan. People have long lamented the problems which they face on daily basis. The issue is that no one is interested in solving these problems and even today the mounting numbers of problems are unresolved.
Right now, maternal mortality rate remains high in Balochistan as total of 785 mothers lose their lives during pregnancy in Balochistan out of 100,000 compared to 272 in the rest of the country. Moreover, the ratio of child mortality was high in Balochistan elaborating that out of 1,000, a total of 158 children die during birth as compared to 103 in other parts of Pakistan.
Above situation exposes the willingness and commitment of the Government and political actors who are always found of traveling abroad for shopping and entertainment instead of reforming and improving the existing health policy especially on mother and child for the rural areas of the province where the deprived people are suffering with the scarce health facilities.
In Dalbandin, it’s startling to know that people use a local cab in replacement of the ambulance for referring the pregnant women almost 300 KMs to Quetta. This happens most of the time and it’s not a one-ff incident. This case elaborates the condition of the patient and the risks which have been faced by the inhabitants.
District Chagai is one of the most dangerous areas of the province in terms of road safety and lack of facilities by NHA. Dalbandin is the district head quarter and whole district comprises of 12 UCs but only 5 UCs are having civil dispensaries and some of the them are dysfunctional due to non-availability of technical Staff, human resource, poor infrastructure and lack of medication etc. Meanwhile, the rest of the UCs have even none of the above mentioned facilities.
There is only one labor room in the District Health Quarters (DHQ) Dalbandin which is managed by non-technical staff instead of Gynecologist doctors and child specialists. Minimum health standards are not applied for the mother and child to reduce the maternal mortality rate in the district.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are those of the author and Balochistan Voices not necessarily agrees with them.
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