President seeks international support for coping with polio virus

LAHORE: President Mamnoon Hussain said the polio virus affected Pakistan owing to wars in the region and the international community should extend support to the country to cope with the disease.

Addressing the International Medical Conference here Friday, the president said the medical education in Pakistan was on a par with the international standards and involvement of private sector had helped improve the situation.

However, he said it was unfortunate that far-flung areas were still deprived of the health facilities that required due attention.There was also need to make people aware of the healthcare and the government could not succeed without cooperation from the civil society and medical practitioners, he added.

Therefore, the president desired the medical institutions to sign agreements with the international research institutions and renowned universities to benefit from the developed countries.The president said the absence of health facilities in far-flung areas was a chronic issue and the lack of doctors’ interest to serve in those areas and lack of infrastructure there were among the major reasons behind this.

He said the government was paying attention to the issue as various proposals were also under consideration and people would get good news in this connection.He said the private sector should also fulfill its responsibilities to reform the system.

He observed that the bilateral relations of Pakistan and the United Kingdom in the field of medicine were decades-old and Pakistani doctors were benefiting the Royal College of Physicians.

Similarly, the founders of the Royal College also took advantage of the knowledge and research by Muslim scholars, doctors and medical experts, he added.He said it was pleasing that the bilateral ties in the field of medicine were strengthening with the passage of time and Pakistani doctors preferred to get education from Royal College.

The president said the Royal College’s decision to hold examinations of the first and second parts of the MRCP in Pakistan and holding the clinical examinations here too would have positive impact.

Punjab Governor Rafiq Rajwana, convener International Medical Conference Prof Akbar Chaudhry, chief organizer Prof Javed Akram and other prominent guests also attended the conference.