ISLAMABAD: The Steering Committee on Health (SCH) of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held an extraordinary meeting on Thursday at the OIC General Secretariat via video conference under the chairpersonship of Minister of Health and Prevention in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Chair of the Seventh Islamic Conference of Health Ministers (ICHM).
Pakistan is a member of the OIC-SCH. The other members include Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Maldives, Mauritania, Chad, Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia and Sudan.
“The meeting reviewed the level of preparedness of member states to address the pandemic and underscored the need for putting in place a national Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan ("EPR Plan") to strengthen prevention, impact mitigation, and other interventions,” said a statement from the OIC.
Emphasising the importance of health security as a key component of national security, Pakistan at the conference pointed to the need to develop health regulations at international level and a legal framework at national level to enhance investment in healthcare security infrastructure.
The meeting stressed that the member states and the OIC General Secretariat should intensify their efforts with the international community to enhance efforts to eradicate the pandemic.
The participants noted with appreciation the international organizations and bodies, especially the WHO, the Global Fund (GF) and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance for the valuable efforts being made towards addressing the cross-border challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the important contribution made toward the global public health.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office Friday said Pakistan was represented by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) and Minister of State for Health, Dr. Zafar Mirza.
“Speaking on the occasion, SAPM Dr. Zafar Mirza stated that the COVID-19 pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge to humanity, which required a collective international response.
Highlighting Pakistan’s efforts, he underscored that Pakistan had been actively engaged in containing the pandemic from its outset by taking several preventive measures,” said the Foreign Office.
Dr. Zafar Mirza termed the pandemic both a challenge and opportunity for introspection, especially on healthcare spending and emergencies’ preparedness.
“The SAPM emphasized that the OIC should strengthen its capacity to cope with this unprecedented challenge by exploiting comparative advantage of member States in the development of pharmaceutical products, vaccines and PPE.
He also highlighted Pakistan’s comparative advantage in the healthcare sector,” added the Foreign Office.
The meeting called upon the OIC Member States, charitable organizations, philanthropists, and other international organizations to:
- Strengthen the coordination of national and regional efforts and the strategies geared to stem further spread of the disease in member states and enhance the capacity of health and medical personnel to prevent and control the infectious and communicable diseases, such as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
- Coordinate the contributions to the efforts aimed at meeting the shortages of essential medical supplies, especially diagnostic kits and personal protective equipment for the health professionals in Member States, especially in the most vulnerable Member States.
- Encourage member states to scale up timely and transparent sharing of information on the issues of global public health concern on the prevention, detection, and treatment of the cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), epidemiological and clinical research data exchange, and materials necessary for research and development of medical treatment for this virus.
- Support the local companies to increase domestic production of key consumables/products used in responding to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), including hand sanitizers, facemasks, medical products, and soap, and ensure these are available at an affordable price and on an equitable basis where most needed.
- Encourage preventive measures, such as hand washing and sanitization of surfaces, in workplaces and adopt social distancing.
- Strengthen cooperation in using information and communication technologies to ensure the provision of correct information on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to the public on a regular basis so that they are not misled by misinformation and fake news in this regard.
- Support the OIC-ISF Urgent Initiative to respond to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).