STREET DOCTORS, BARBERS, AND DENTISTS: HEALTHCARE ON THE SIDEWALK
Street Doctors, Barbers, and Dentists: Healthcare on the Sidewalk. If you think your local dentist is expensive, try one armed with a pair of pliers and a rusty mirror.
In Lahore, Pakistan, I stumbled across a world I couldn’t believe existed — where kerb side surgery is the norm for most.
1. WHAT IS STREET HEALTHCARE?
In short – something I hope you never have to experience. In parts of Asia and Africa, where hospitals are out of reach or simply unaffordable, people turn to the footpath. There, you’ll find street barbers doubling as surgeons, dentists fixing braces with pliers, and massage men treating back pain with knuckles and a prayer.
It’s hard to watch, yet ingenious. What looks reckless to an outsider is, for many, the only option.
Street Doctors, Barbers, and Dentists: Healthcare on the Sidewalk
QUICK TAKEAWAYS
- Street medicine thrives where formal healthcare fails.
- Locals see it as normal — outsiders see it as madness.
- Most practitioners have decades of experience… and zero qualifications.
- What feels reckless is often born from necessity.
2. MY FIRST ENCOUNTER IN LAHORE
Lahore was the first — and only — place I’ve seen it up close.
Among the chaos of the streets, wedged between tea stalls and shoe shiners, were men operating makeshift dental clinics. No gloves. No steriliser. Just pliers, wire, and a broke patient with no anaesthetic.
I went all vanilla and opted for a shave and a massage, nothing invasive. But even that felt like part of another world. It was oddly relaxing, until I looked left and saw a man’s braces being adjusted with a similar tool I’ve seen on a building site.
Street Doctors, Barbers, and Dentists: Healthcare on the Sidewalk
3. THE MOMENT THAT LEFT ME SPEECHLESS
That braces moment stuck with me more than the previous patients filling did!
The sound alone — the brutal click of pliers was enough for me, like a horror movie I could barely watch. The man didn’t even flinch. He was already in pain and that’s kinda what brought him here. Who knows if what is being done works but in fairness he has no option!
I couldn’t decide if it was resilience or tragedy. Probably both.
4. WHY LOCALS STILL TRUST THESE “DOCTORS”
To locals, this isn’t madness. It’s Tuesday.
Those living in poorer districts see these “doctors” as convenient and affordable. Others — the middle and upper class — are just as shocked as I was. Many had never seen it themselves.
It’s not widespread across Lahore, but where it exists, it’s completely normalised. There was actually a queue of patients waiting to be seen the morning we arrived. Maybe they do know what they are doing.
Street Doctors, Barbers, and Dentists: Healthcare on the Sidewalk
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5. CONVERSATIONS FROM THE SIDEWALK
I spoke with one of the street “doctors” — an older man who’s been fixing teeth for thirty years. No degree, no license, just experience.
He said, “I learned from watching others and doing.” Which makes me wonder who did his mentor learn from?
His tools looked more at home on a building site than in a mouth: pliers, wires, putty fillings. And with no anaesthetic there isn’t much room for error.
Street Doctors, Barbers, and Dentists: Healthcare on the Sidewalk
6. THE TOOLS, THE TALENT, AND THE TERROR
The longer I watched, the more conflicted I felt. I’m the type of person to slow down when approaching an accident, not for safety but for a better look.
Yes, it’s unhygienic. Yes, it’s dangerous. But it’s also resourceful — a system born out of necessity when public healthcare isn’t for everyone.
Street barbers become doctors. Mechanics become dentists. Its days like these you realise just how lucky we are in the West.
7. COMPARING STREET MEDICINE TO THE WEST
Back home, we complain about NHS wait times. In Lahore, there’s no waiting — you just sit on a kerb and hope the man with pliers already made his mistake today.
It’s a harsh reality check and one that I have become used to getting. The kind of place that makes you rethink the meaning of “basic healthcare.”
FACTS BOX:
- Is street healthcare legal?
Technically, no — but enforcement is limited. In many areas, it’s tolerated because it serves the poor who have no other options. - Why do people trust these practitioners?
Because trust is built on access. When the system fails you, you trust whoever shows up. - Would I ever try it?
Not a chance, I find it hard enough to visit my own fully qualified and hygienic dentist / doctor.. I’ll stick to barbers, not dentists.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Street healthcare is both horrifying and fascinating. I always say I would never but what if I didn’t have a choice?
SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
