Discretionary medicine in Pakistan poverty, coloniality and health / Sanaullah Khan.

Author/creator Khan, Sanaullah
Format Electronic
Publication InfoAbingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2025.
Descriptionvolumes cm
Supplemental ContentFull text available from eBooks on EBSCOhost
Subjects

SeriesRoutledge studies in health and medical anthropology
Routledge studies in health and medical anthropology. ^A1404217
Contents Medicine, coloniality and social difference -- Cold War Politics, bureaucracies and the birth of Pakistani Public Health -- Prisons, Bureaucratic violence and the Uses of Psychiatry in Pakistan -- Public health, punishment and chronicity -- Displacement, Criminalization and Health -- Transitory Health.
Abstract "This book uses the notion of 'discretionary medicine' to explore the landscape of contemporary healthcare in Pakistan. It considers how patients frequently experience health interventions as out of touch with the suffering of everyday life. In such a case, healthcare interventions and provisions are frequently viewed as intrusive, corrupted and as lacking empathy toward the sick. The author focuses on mental health, acknowledging that the experience of mental illness in Pakistan is increasingly inseparable from conditions of chronic poverty caused directly by deepening inequality. The chapters address the establishment of priorities by the Pakistani health care system in conjunction with global disease programs and investigate the misalignments between the priorities of global institutes and local expectations/realities. Sanaullah argues that the discretionary nature of medicine is caused by the remnants of colonial-era laws, which link the maintenance of public health with questions of security. This, he argues, frequently contributes to forms of care that are riddled with bureaucratic violence. Using a combination of archival and ethnographic research, the book offer a multi-sited and interdisciplinary perspective on healthcare ranging from care within low-income households and neighborhoods to diasporic communities and state institutions. Discretionary Medicine will be of particular interest to scholars and students of medical/psychiatric anthropology, global health, history of medicine, as well as South Asian and Pakistan Studies"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
Access restrictionAvailable only to authorized users.
Technical detailsMode of access: World Wide Web
Genre/formElectronic books.
LCCN 2024032293
ISBN9781032600208 (hardback)
ISBN9781032625126 (paperback)
ISBN(ebook)

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