The missed diagnosis

In a country where patients often arrive at hospitals only when their condition turns critical, where public health infrastructure remains chronically underfunded, and where even routine illnesses can become life-threatening due to delays, the cracks in Pakistan’s healthcare system are no secret. But while treatment gaps and medicine shortages dominate headlines, a quieter crisis continues to erode outcomes: the failure to diagnose early, or accurately.

Diagnostics are the starting point of any effective treatment journey. They help identify diseases before symptoms become severe, guide doctors toward the right course of action, and save lives through timely intervention. But in Pakistan, diagnostics have long remained on the periphery of healthcare planning.

Dr. Suleman Alvi, Country Head of Martin Dow Specialities Private Limited, believes the problem is structural, rooted in slower policy reforms, systemic inefficiencies, and a lack of prioritisation. “We do not have enough functional labs, especially in the rural belt and even in urban setups,” he says. “You’ll often find a good hospital but not a good diagnostics department attached to it. That’s a huge gap.”

He further adds that the issue is not that we don't have enough people or even labs. “The problem is the infrastructure, the availability of proper devices, quality control, trained manpower, and policy priority.”

Pakistan ranks 130 out of 195 countries in laboratory systems, according to the Global Health Security Index, lower than all its South Asian neighbors. Despite the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and cancer, and the persistence of infectious diseases such as hepatitis, TB, dengue, and even polio, the role of diagnostics in shaping healthcare outcomes is yet to be fully recognised.

Professor Dr. Naila Tariq, a senior pathologist and head of laboratories at both JPMC and JSMU, has seen the cost of this neglect play out for decades. “Diagnostics are central to the treatment because without diagnostics, we cannot reach to any conclusive diagnosis and then the treatment would be random and erratic,” she says.

In her view, it’s not just one issue, it’s a matrix of challenges. “Is it accessible? Yes, in Pakistan, it is nearly everywhere. Is it affordable? No, it's not affordable.