Pakistan’s first woman surgeon general calls for increased role for women in health care decision-making

Islamabad: Women health professionals must free themselves of fear to break the stereotype barriers and assert themselves for a greater role in decision making. This was stated by Pakistan’s first woman Lieutenant General (R) Dr Nigar Johar Khan who recently stepped down as the first woman Surgeon General of Pakistan.

She expressed these views while addressing a seminar entitled “Women Leadership in Health” organised by a think tank, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

Lt. Gen. Nigar Johar, who is seen as a role model by many, said though women constituted two-thirds of healthcare workforce their representation in the echelons of top hierarchy did not correspond to that number.

She attributed female-centric policies as one of the main reasons behind this.

She urged collective efforts and change in mindset to break stereotypes and norms that hold women back and suggested that women at the top positions should exercise their powers to support and empower other women.

Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of National Health Services Regulation & Coordination (MoNHSR&C), stressed the role of women legislators in increasing access of women to quality health services especially during disasters through female centric policies and engaging with women at the grass-root level.

Dr Shabnam Sarfaraz, Deputy Executive Director, Women in Global Health, also addressed the occasion and held that women were clustered in lower status and low payment roles in the health sector. She highlighted the global gender pay gap in health was 24 per cent making female professionals grossly underpaid.

She also pointed out that female students took up 70 per cent of medical college seats, outperforming male students.

However, unfortunately, only 46 per cent of them continue practice after graduation and only 35 per cent female doctors opt for post-graduate qualification. There is an alarming 21 per cent exit rate among female doctors after marriage due to gender insensitive career advancement practices.

SDGs agenda incomplete without women’s full participation

Dr Abid Suleri, Executive Director, SDPI was of the view that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda of leaving no one behind could not be achieved without gendered analysis of policies.

“Gender blind policies fail to deliver to different segments of society particularly in climate disasters and reflect in PSDPs and macro-economic policies,” he said, adding though women struggle to break horizontal and vertical glass-ceiling in Pakistan and despite having a female Prime Minister, Pakistan had its first female Lieutenant General after 75 years of independence.