Centre willing to help Sindh improve healthcare services, says premier’s aide

The federal government is willing to provide better healthcare services to the people of Sindh, despite the provincial government’s refusal to participate in the Prime Minister's National Health Programme, said the special assistant to prime minister on media affairs, Dr Musadik Malik, on Saturday. 

If the Sindh government sought the Centre’s help in improving the health facilities, the federal government would not hesitate to do the needful, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader told reporters at the sidelines of an international conference on quality and safety of medicines.

“Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif opened the doors of private hospitals for underprivileged patients under the PM’s National Health Programme. But Sindh refused to participate in the scheme and deliberately prevented people from reaping the benefits of the federal health scheme,” he said. 

The federal government, however, decided to bear the hundred percent cost of the health cards issued in the districts of Tharparkar and other remote areas of Sindh under the PM’s National Health Programme, he added. 

 “Although health is a provincial subject now, but the federal government is still willing to assist the Sindh government in provision of better healthcare facilities,” Dr Malik said.

“Sixty percent of the country’s budget goes to the provinces for provision of basic facilities like health, education and municipal services. But some provinces are not living up to the expectations,” he stated. 

In his speech as chief guest of ‘the 2nd International Conference on Quality, Safety and Outcome: a Paradigm Shift in Pharmacy’, D Malik spoke about advancements in the field of science and technology. 

“In the years to come, human organs would be regrown, people would be communicating without any language and medium, babies would be designed as per human aspirations and there would be engineered human beings and cyborgs. But the question is that are we ready for these advancements,” he observed.

He also urged young pharmacists, doctors and scientists to pace up with the growing advancements in the field of science and technology, especially in the area of medicines. 

Another speaker, Director General Health Pakistan Dr Asad Hafeez said the Centre government was establishing a Federal Healthcare Commission which would regulate hospitals, laboratories and pharmacies in the federal capital territory. Dr Asad Hafeez, also president of the Pakistan Pharmacy Council (PPC), said the federal cabinet had already approved the constitution of the healthcare commission.

“A bill in this regard is expected to be presented in the next session of the parliament for approval. On the other hand, the Punjab Healthcare Commission is already functioning while the Sindh’s commission is in the advance stages of becoming functional,” he added.

To a query, he deplored that thousands of pharmacies were functioning without qualified pharmacists despite strict regulations in this regard. He vowed that the Pakistan Pharmacy Council would ask the regulators to take notice of the situation.

The seminar was organised by the Pakistan Society of Health System Pharmacists (PSHP) and attended by a large number of senior doctors, healthcare professionals, CEOs and medical directors of public and private hospitals, government functionaries, representatives of pharmaceutical industry and pharmacists.

The conference was addressed by international experts, including Prof Dr Henri R Manasse from University of Illinois, Chicago, and Jacqueline Surugue from France who especially travelled all the way to Karachi for attending the pharmacist moot. Both the experts spoke on various aspects of drug safety, patient safety and importance of pharmacists in a healthcare system.