On Friday, August 24, the health department issued an official notification stating that district headquarter hospitals, including those in Zhob, Panjgur, Kholu, Pishin, and Khuzdar, among others, would be run under public-private partnerships.
This does not include the district of Gwadar, in southern Makran, which spans 12,637 km² and has a population exceeding 302,160. Gwadar is facing a dire healthcare crisis. The city itself has only two hospitals: the GDA (Pak-China Friendship Hospital), with just 10 beds, and the DHQ (District Headquarters), both of which are severely lacking in essential facilities. The same plight affects the PNS (Pakistan Naval Station) Darman Jah hospital in Ormara, the only medical centre in that area. In Pasni, the Pak-Oman Hospital was established in 2021, as no public treatment centre previously existed, but it too suffers from shortages of doctors, equipment, and supplies, putting patients’ lives at risk.
Gwadar’s healthcare infrastructure, with only four hospitals in the entire urbanised district, highlights the urgent need for more medical facilities. We appeal to the health department to establish healthcare centres in Gwadar so that its citizens do not have to travel miles for treatment of serious illnesses.
ZUBAIDA ALAM,
Quetta.