By the overall provincial standard, the health situation in Sibi district is on the whole satisfactory, but there is much room for improvement. Taking a global view of the district, the following picture emerges.

The nutrition level of the bulk of the population is low and the morbidity rate is high. The coverage by health care facilities is moderate on the whole, but for women they are not in proportion to their needs and share in the total population. The quality of health services leaves much to be desired. People, in general, are not very hygienic and will go to a doctor only when forced by illness.

For complicated health problems, e.g. surgery facilities are not available in Sibi, well-to-do people go to Quetta. Of the deficiencies in the health sector, the people most suffering are the rural people, especially the women. The sufferings of women are heightened further by social factors. They will only receive their husbands' attention for medical help when the problem has become acute.

The health system comprises government health services, private medical practitioners; non-qualified doctors and Hakeems and NGOs. The traditional system of spiritual healing is very much in practice, but sufficient information on this system is not available.

Government health services comprise a total of 48 medical units of different kinds (see table). These units have a total sanctioned staff of 472 (filled up posts are 442), and 214 beds. The number of sanctioned posts of doctors is 51, but only 36 have been filled. For data on the health sector see annex 10.

There are twelve qualified private medical practitioners in the district. Three of them are full-time private doctors. The other nine are government doctors who have a private practice during evening hours.

There are also Hakeems and homeopath doctors. Their exact number is not known, but would be around one dozen. Most of them live in urban centres or big villages of the district.

There are over twenty NGOs in the district in the health sector. Their activities include providing ambulance service, organisation of blood banks, and mother and child health care.

Major diseases in the district are diarrhoea, malaria, gastro-enteritis and respiratory disorders. Information on the incidence of these diseases, i.e. their proportion in the annual total cases dealt with by medical units, is not available.

The special health services comprise: five MCHs, one TBC, and normal facilities for vaccination at hospitals.

The health services in the district are provided under the authority of the District Health Officer (DHO). The Health Department's staff comprises 41 doctors, 124 para-medical staff and 231 other staff.

Provincial government is the major actor in the health sector. Even among the private practitioners, the presence of government doctors (authorised to do private practice) is quite prominent. Of late, NGOs have become prominent participants in this sector.

The health coverage as indicated by the number of medical units and doctors is satisfactory. In Sibi town, the situation can be described as good. However, the quality of medical services in the public sector is, however, not good. Patients do not get proper attention, medicines are in short supply, surgical facilities are inadequate, hygiene leaves much to be desired, etc. There is a need to open more dispensaries and basic health units in rural Sibi. Health facilities for women are completely inadequate. These need to be expanded and improved. But the most important issue is that of proper maintenance and operation of existing facilities.

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