Peshawar — Emergency medicine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is sliding toward collapse as an increasing number of emergency specialists leave the province for jobs abroad, citing poor pay, scant incentives and limited career advancement.
Physicians and health analysts say emergency doctors in public hospitals are especially vulnerable because, unlike many other specialists, they cannot meaningfully supplement their government salaries through private practice. That dependence on fixed pay makes the specialty financially unattractive even as demand for trauma and emergency care rises across KP.
A senior consultant in a teaching hospital’s Accident and Emergency unit described how a highly experienced doctor who had practiced in the United Kingdom for nearly 15 years transformed services and trained younger staff after joining Lady Reading Hospital. Despite the improvements, the consultant resigned, saying government remuneration and incentives could not match international standards. Several protégés who trained under him have also emigrated, drawn by better pay and greater professional recognition.
The departures come at a particularly bad time for KP, a province frequently affected by terrorism, bombings, road accidents and seasonal floods. Health experts warn that without enough trained emergency teams and prompt trauma care, preventable deaths and lifelong disabilities from accidents, heart attacks, strokes and maternal emergencies will rise.
Calls from the medical community include establishing modern emergency departments, expanding ambulance services and rehabilitation, and providing advanced, hands‑on training for doctors, nurses and paramedics. Clinicians also urge reforms to give emergency medicine clearer promotion paths and academic recognition to curb the ongoing brain drain and strengthen the specialty’s capacity.
Khyber Medical University says it is planning an advanced emergency department network linking 13 campus hospitals across the province. Officials also announced upcoming life‑support training programmes for healthcare workers aimed at improving survival rates.
Doctors stressed that policy and budgetary changes are needed quickly to retain specialists and build resilient emergency care systems. Without competitive pay, meaningful incentives and career pathways, the province risks losing more trained staff just when demand for emergency services is growing.
