Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faces Severe Doctor and Bed Shortage Across Public Hospitals

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is grappling with a severe shortfall in healthcare capacity, with official figures showing only 8,024 doctors serving a population of more than 40 million. This translates to roughly one doctor for every 5,000 to 6,000 residents, well below the World Health Organization's recommended ratio of one doctor per 1,000 people.

The province's hospital infrastructure is similarly strained. Public hospitals in KP have a combined 18,432 beds, while the population requires around 64,000, leaving a gap of more than 45,000 beds and providing less than a third of the needed capacity. In addition, more than 200 government health facilities of various types are currently non-functional across the province.

Meeting the WHO benchmark would require approximately 40,000 doctors, about five times the current workforce. The latest figures underscore the wide distance between demand for care and the resources available to meet it.

During a briefing, KP Health Adviser Lt. Gen. (R) Nigar Johar said the provincial government has decided to amend the Medical Teaching Institutions (MTI) Act and conduct audits of hospitals. She stated that the Sehat Card program will not be scrapped; instead, its shortcomings will be addressed and the scheme improved. The province recently decided to subject the Sehat Card program to a financial audit.

The provincial government had earlier ordered fast-track work on new hospitals, but current statistics indicate that the shortage remains substantial. The combination of doctor scarcity, non-functional facilities and bed shortfalls continues to present a major challenge for public healthcare delivery in the province.