Pakistan Needs 200,000 Nurses to End Health Resource Crisis
by Iqra Zafar
SHARES
Lahore: WHO representative in Pakistan Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala revealed that the country is currently suffering from Human Health Crisis. The current health force working in the sector is not able to cater for the healthcare requirements of the existing population. At the moment the health force can only cater to one-tenth of the population requirement.
Dr Mahipala said that Pakistan immediately needs 200,000 nurses to eliminate the workforce crisis in the healthcare sector. During an official visit to the University of Health Sciences on Monday 22 August, Dr Mahipala said that Pakistan immediately needs to increase its workforce to cater to the healthcare requirements of the population.
“No healthcare system can deliver quality care without the input of trained, committed professionals, including quality doctors and nurses,” said Dr Mahipala while addressing the senior faculty member of UHS.
WHO’s head in Pakistan, Dr. Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala, has said that the country faces a human resource for health (HRH) crisis as the available resources in the sector can meet only one-tenth of the country's requirement. pic.twitter.com/eSj4dQwafk
— University of Health Sciences Lahore (@uhslhrofficial) August 22, 2022
Dr Jamshed Ahmed (WHO Punjab chief), Dr Asad Zaheer (UHS Registrar) and senior faculty members were also present on the occasion. During this meeting, Dr Mahipala is given the role of adjunct faculty of the university.
WHO representative acknowledged the efforts by UHS to focus on primary health care and family medicine. He also asked the university administration to make a five-year plan to well structure its educational program properly. He further added that WHO will support in this regard. Mahipala said that the WHO health target was 60% by 2030. Admiring the role of UHS in the medical sector he said that in future the university could play the role of a WHO collaboration centre.
Prof Ahsan Waheed Rathore, UHS VC also talked about the university’s achievements and research performance as indicated by its H-index of 30.5. He also highlighted recent reforms in the curriculum and evaluation system. Prof Waheed said that UHS is currently running 110 postgraduate and 26 undergraduate programmes. Waheed further added that to compensate for the shortage of allied health professionals and nurses, UHS is focussing on launching under and post-graduate programs in the relevant disciplines.
