Pakistan’s healthcare system is teetering on the brink of survival. Among the major challenges facing the healthcare industry is a mounting wave of nurse emigrating to other countries. In 2024, nurses made up about 5.8 per cent of Pakistan’s ‘highly educated’ migration stream, with nurse emigration rising at a staggering compound annual growth rate of 54.2 per cent between 2019 and 2024. And while Pakistan needs roughly 700,000 nurses to meet demand, it only had 116,658 registered nurses as of 2020 — a largely insufficient and deeply concerning number.
The brain drain narrative is painstakingly clear: nurses are fleeing in search of better pay and safer working environments abroad. Countries from the Gulf to the UK and Canada attract talent with competitive salaries and better professional conditions, turning emigration into a survival strategy instead of a luxury choice. While back home, public institutions are stifling under the pressure of being under-staffed, and private colleges are churning out graduates only for them to be exiled by regulatory caps on student intake that hamper scaling up the workforce.
The abysmal nurse-to-doctor ratio, which according to the WHO should be 3 per doctor, stands at a mere 0.5 nurses per doctor in Pakistan. This erosion in nursing capacity is directly endangering patient safety, quality of care and doctors’ morale. The government must treat the nursing profession with the seriousness it deserves. This means relaxing regulatory caps, investing in expansion and ensuring that nurses are provided better salaries and working conditions.
This is essential to meet national needs instead of just keeping pace with brain drain. Infrastructural upgrades must also match reforms in recruitment, retention and workplace culture. Only then can policy moves translate into effective and sustainable relief for Pakistan’s critically compromised healthcare system.
