Pakistan: Health sector crisis deepens in Rawalpindi as hospitals struggle with shortages

Islamabad [Pakistan], December 27 : The year 2025 has been marked by severe challenges for Rawalpindi's health sector in Pakistan, with major public hospitals facing acute shortages of beds, staff and essential medical services despite billions of rupees spent on infrastructure upgrades, The Express Tribune reported.

Even after the redesign and upgrade of Holy Family Hospital, a severe crisis persists in its gynaecology ward, where two maternity patients are being accommodated on a single bed due to a critical space shortage. The situation has raised concerns over patient safety, dignity and privacy, The Express Tribune reported.

For nearly 15 years, an entirely constructed 500-bed Mother and Child Hospital, completed at PKR 7 billion, has remained unused and deteriorated. The non-functional facility, equipped with 13 operating theatres, now stands abandoned, with reports of drug addicts stealing iron windows, doors and other fittings, as reported by The Express Tribune.

The Rawalpindi district currently has three major allied hospitalsHoly Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto General Hospital and District Headquarters Teaching Hospitalalong with four Tehsil Headquarters Hospitals in Kahuta, Kallar Syedan, Gujar Khan and Taxila. In addition, the district has 104 dispensaries, 71 Basic Health Units (BHUs), 10 Rural Health Centres, 27 privatised BHUs now operating as Maryam Nawaz Clinics, and 20 Clinic-on-Wheels units.

However, none of these hospitals or health facilities reportedly have vaccines or injections available for dog bites or snake bites, highlighting serious gaps in emergency care, The Express Tribune reported.

In the three major allied hospitals, patients are being given waiting periods of three to six months for critical surgical procedures. Shortages of doctors, nurses and paramedical staff have further strained services, while dialysis facilities are not being provided on time.

It is also noted that there are no proper systems for the disposal of hazardous hospital waste in line with environmental standards. Daily patient turnover at the allied hospitals ranges from 6,000 to 8,000, with complaints of inadequate furniture and shortages of laboratory equipment becoming routine, The Express Tribune reported.

Conditions at the Maryam Nawaz Basic Health Units are described as particularly poor, with severe shortages of medical staff and life-saving medicines.

Holy Family Hospital continues to receive the highest number of maternity cases. Due to the lack of beds in the gynaecology ward, two women are often placed on a single bed, leading to overcrowding and a complete loss of medical privacy.

Families of patients, including Fareed Ali Shahbaz and Zeenat Satti, said that one patient was discharged prematurely after another sick woman was placed on the same bed.

Relatives also complained about male staff entering the gynaecology ward, calling for stricter discipline and an immediate increase in bed capacity or temporary measures such as placing mattresses on the floor, The Express Tribune reported.

They also demanded that the long-idle Mother and Child Hospital be brought back online without further delay.

Amid growing public concern, calls have been made for an urgent increase in health sector funding.

Despite these persistent issues, Pakistan's Federal Minister for Railways, Hanif Abbasi, has claimed that a healthcare "revolution" is underway in Rawalpindi, according to The Express Tribune.

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