Islamabad: Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers need confidential peer-support systems, psychosocial counselling and safer workplaces to prevent burnout, empathy fatigue, depression and cynicism caused by their routine exposure to pain, grief and suffering, speakers at a national conference have said.
Public health experts, psychiatrists, medical educators and policymakers said the wellbeing of healthcare providers was inseparable from patient safety and quality of care, as long hours, workplace pressure, harassment and violence continued to affect health workers across the country.
Health Services Academy Vice Chancellor Prof Shahzad Ali Khan said doctors and other clinicians regularly encountered people in distress, often around the clock, but their own emotional wellbeing was frequently neglected.
He said health professionals generally responded to such exposure in two ways: either they normalised suffering and risked becoming indifferent, or internalised it, which could result in stress, burnout, depression, empathy fatigue and cynicism.
Prof Shahzad urged doctors and clinicians to remain connected with colleagues, juniors, nurses and patients, and seek support whenever required instead of suffering in silence.
He called for confidential peer-support and referral pathways at healthcare facilities, with trained psychosocial counsellors available for doctors, nurses and other staff members facing emotional stress or professional pressure.
He also proposed frequent short breaks, regular staff huddles between senior and junior personnel, clinical leadership training, better communication skills and incentives for staff who identify and prevent patient-safety risks.
Prof Shahzad said hospitals should become healing environments where staff were encouraged to use creativity, including liberal and fine arts, to manage stress and regain calm.
Minister of State for National Health Services Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmad Bharath said healthcare workers were the backbone of the health system and their welfare was directly linked to patient safety and quality treatment.
He said medical education and professional life placed exceptional pressure on doctors, beginning with admission to medical college and continuing through demanding training, long duty hours and stressful working conditions.
“Our system has an imbalance that affects doctors, and the government cannot absolve itself of responsibility,” he said, adding that health facilities should be run with meaningful clinical leadership and doctors should be able to perform their duties without fear.
Dr Bharath called for legal protection for health professionals and zero tolerance towards violence against healthcare workers, including effective prevention measures and an immediate response whenever such incidents occurred.
He said women healthcare workers must be provided safe, respectful and harassment-free workplaces, adding that the ministry would initiate work on an anti-harassment policy after consultations with provinces and other stakeholders.
The minister said the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council should consider a mechanism for periodic review of doctors’ licences, while recommendations of the conference’s Islamabad Declaration should be shared with the Ministry of National Health Services for possible consideration in future policy measures.
He added that the government was working to strengthen mental-health services and formulate Pakistan’s first national mental-health policy, focusing on early diagnosis, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.
Pakistan would host its first Global Mental Health Summit in Islamabad on October 1 and 2, 2026, he said.
The second national conference on the wellbeing of medical professionals, titled “Healing the Healers”, was organised by Al-Falah Foundation Pakistan and brought together psychiatrists, medical educators, clinicians and policymakers to discuss burnout, patient and provider safety, legal safeguards, workplace harassment, resilience and the wellbeing of women working in health facilities.
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