IT has been 13 years since the US raid on the Osama bin Laden compound. A CIA-operated fake vaccination drive was used to locate the Al Qaeda chief. The repercussions involved a rise in vaccine hesitancy and refusal. Many have attributed the trend of killing polio vaccinators to the fake vaccination drive. In January this year, Dr Abdul Rahman, a senior polio eradication official in KP, was gunned down. Dr Rahman was trying his best to increase the number of vaccinations. Having devoted his life to this purpose, he died for it as well.
Dr Rahman’s death is a tragedy, and one hopes that someone in the government takes proper note of it and ensures that his heirs are given financial remuneration and his achievements are properly recognised. For far too long, Pakistan’s true heroes, men like Dr Rahman, have lived and died in obscurity, while conniving politicians have enriched themselves.
However, most in the health profession in Pakistan do not die on the job. Nevertheless, their state is often precarious in other ways. First of all, jobs are difficult to obtain without connections, and clinics cannot be set up without capital. Those who are smart begin to study for certification examinations that allow them to go abroad where they can obtain employment.
If a Pakistani medical graduate can obtain a job outside the country, such as Saudi Arabia or the UAE, his family’s economic situation can be transformed. It follows, then, that Pakistan exports doctors all over the world, with the medical system in the Gulf countries relying........