**Pakistan Islamic Medical Association Raises Alarm Over Public Health Crisis Amid Rising HIV, TB, and Malaria Cases**<\/p>\n
The Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) has voiced serious concern over a sharp deterioration in the country’s public health landscape, citing alarming increases in deaths from HIV, undiagnosed drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), and malaria cases, as highlighted in recent media coverage and an audit from The Global Fund. The group attributes these challenges to failures in health policy and problematic leadership appointments within key health institutions.<\/p>\n
PIMA\u2019s Central President, Professor Atif Hafeez Siddiqui, attributed the crisis in part to the placement of unqualified individuals in critical roles, particularly pointing to the recent appointment of a non-medical professional as Deputy Coordinator in the national TB control program. Professor Siddiqui noted that such actions violate High Court directives as well as established merit and publicity requirements, undermining the healthcare system’s integrity.<\/p>\n
According to PIMA, Pakistan has witnessed a 400% surge in HIV-related deaths, with 70% of drug-resistant TB cases reportedly going undiagnosed, alongside a spike in malaria cases. These statistics, the association emphasized, are indicative of systemic neglect and ineffective policy implementation.<\/p>\n
Professor Siddiqui criticized both current and previous governments for sidelining healthcare professionals from the policymaking process in favor of favored individuals with little or no relevant expertise. He further highlighted that doctors and health workers, especially in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, are facing uncertainty and discouragement under ongoing so-called \u201chealth reforms,\u201d leading to further erosion of institutional credibility and increased risks to public well-being.<\/p>\n
In response to these findings, PIMA has called for a transparent, high-level inquiry into the issues raised by The Global Fund audit. The association is demanding that only qualified and experienced professionals be appointed to leadership roles in health programs, that these initiatives remain free from political interference, and that doctors and health experts be actively included in policymaking to improve accountability and the effectiveness of public health interventions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
**Pakistan Islamic Medical Association Raises Alarm Over Public Health Crisis Amid Rising HIV, TB, and Malaria Cases** The Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) has voiced serious concern over a sharp deterioration in the country’s public health landscape, citing alarming increases in deaths from HIV, undiagnosed drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), and malaria cases, as highlighted in recent …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5810,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5808\/revisions\/5810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}