The urban bias in health facilities in Pakistan

S. Akbar Zaidi

Social Science & Medicine, 1985, vol. 20, issue 5, 473-482

Abstract: In this paper we examine the urban bias in the health facilities in Pakistan. Although urban areas in Pakistan contain less than 30% of the population, the health facilities are grossly over-represented here. We have argued that the evolution of the health sector has taken place under the broader dynamics of the economy and society in Pakistan. Opting for a capitalist path of growth, with its inherent class contradictions, the health sector has grown in response to the needs of the bourgeois (predominantly urban) classes. The two factors which we feel are responsible for this urban bias are the type of medical education in Pakistan, and the role of the Government. The pattern of medical education is one which is a replica of the developed countries resulting in a demand for the 'latest' and the 'best' in medical care. The result is an urban-biased, hospital-oriented, curative-care model. The Government of Pakistan has also enhanced this urban-bias by investing heavily in urban-centred health facilities, often at the expense of the larger rural population. We have argued that it is the class structure under capitalism which gives rise to an urban bias. Policies are made by the ruling class, and allocations within and outside the health sector are made not on need, but on political expediency and on the ability to pay. To alter this maldistribution of resources, it is the class structure in Pakistan which will have to be attacked.

Date: 1985
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