Sickness and health

Public healthcare provision in AJK, like in much of Pakistan, is in a poor state. In most cases, you have to draw on your own resources.

I was quite interested in the health profile of Dadyal. Unable to find anything published on the subject, I spoke to a number of chemists to see what kind of medication they sell the most. Apparently no HIV medication is dispensed, but Hepatitis is fairly widespread. Diabetes, high blood pressure and raised cholesterol are also common.

Depression also appears to be on the rise. In the past, disparate symptoms, from vague ‘body ache’ to ‘tightness’ in the head, were rarely brought under the umbrella of depression. But now more and more medication is being dispensed for depression.

Rather alarmingly, medicines which ought only to be prescribed by a doctor can sometimes be purchased over the counter. You can buy medicines such as Omeprazole, Metronidazole and Amoxicillin, and many others, from Chattroh, without a prescription. The dangers to the individual are obvious. In the case of antibiotics, the dangers are to all of us. Unnecessary prescribing creates an opportunity for resistant bacteria to develop and spread. Resistance is spreading faster than the development of new antibiotics.

Azad Kashmir election

During my visit, I did not fail to notice that the Azad Kashmir elections are due shortly. Not that there was overmuch public enthusiasm. Politics there as elsewhere is impotent. Strip away the large houses, shopping malls and the land cruisers, all private wealth remitted from overseas, and the developmental gains of politicians are very modest.

I tried to imagine the place as it would have been without contact with England. The road is in a state of disrepair. The basic public health system has barely moved on from how I remember it from the 1970s. People try to avoid state schools if they can afford to. True, the construction of an electricity grid station means electricity, when available, is powerful enough for most purposes. This is offset by the even greater frequency of load shedding. Supply cannot meet demand - it is the job of politics to fine tune supply and demand.

On a different note, I was surprised that in Dadyal at least the parties had not announced their candidates even at this relatively late hour. The reason, I suspect, is that there are so many hopefuls, egged on by enthusiastic supporters, that parties cannot depend on the continuing loyalty of those who fail to get a ticket. The longer the delay in announcing candidates, the more difficult it becomes for disappointed candidates to run as independents. There is no such thing as ideology; there as here, there is very little to choose from.

Whither went my holiday.....

Over the next few weeks, I’ll try to update my blog with insights from my recent two-week lightening visit to Pakistan.

The rant that good time flies by quickly has become a cliché, but nevertheless applies vividly in my case. It is as if the sight of the majestic snow-capped Himalayas, which greeted me every morning, were but a dream. Here, my first step out of the house is greeted by nothing more than the sight of the terrace opposite.

Much has changed since my last visit and some places were barely recognisable. There is a point off the main road which links Chattroh with other villages. In 1999, it was a quite place, with only the odd water buffalo bathing in a ditch and the traffic going to and from Chattroh. Now it is bustling with activity, with grand residences surrounded by shops and roadside cafes and everywhere the evidence of more building.