Global Surgery: Bridging the GapPress Release Karachi- Three out of four Pakistanis live in rural areas where it’s rare to find a hospital with the infrastructure, trained workforce and systems to provide lifesaving surgical and anaesthesia care. This means that most Pakistanis travel long distances, tackle a variety of delays in receiving treatment and have to bear significant expense to access healthcare contributing to the country’s annual backlog of 17 million surgeries. Researchers and policymakers at Aga Khan University’s 4th Annual Surgical Conference (Global Surgery conference) will discuss the findings of a new study into the issues faced by public sector hospitals, based outside of major cities, which prevent the provision of safe and affordable surgical and anaesthesia services. Policy experts and public health experts will then engage in a debate on the most effective ways to address this public health issue and to discuss the need for Pakistan to expedite development of its first-ever National Surgical, Obstetric, and Anaesthesia Plan |