Dr Adib calls for crusading to meet future challenges, extend health cover

Prof Dr Adib Rizvi has called upon pathologists to launch a crusade in their medical research based on solid foundations to meet the challenges of the future and to extend the cover of meaningful medical care.

The founding director of the Sindh Institute of Urology & Transplantation (SIUT) was addressing the inaugural session of the 40th Annual Conference of Pakistan Association of Pathologists that kicked off at the SIUT on Thursday.

Experts at the international moot deplored that the standard and quality of diagnostic services at most of the laboratories had deteriorated, since instead of qualified pathologists, technicians were performing most of the procedures, majority of whom were neither qualified nor trained to perform specialised medical examinations.

Pathologists issued a clarion call to make medical treatments and related investigations affordable in the greater interest of the public, and observed that diagnostic labs had become business ventures where the emphasis was on making money instead of conducting reliable diagnostics and identifying medical conditions and diseases.

Participating medical experts, professors and consultant pathologists also deplored that no research was being conducted in the field of pathology and diagnostic services in Pakistan, and instead of spending on research and human resource development, heavy resources were being spent on the construction of modern structures and acquiring the latest equipment and machinery.

The three-day conference is being attended by more than 70 practising pathologists from different countries and regions, including the US, Europe and the Middle East, as well as many cities of Pakistan.

Dr Rizvi dedicated his keynote address to the late Prof Javed Kazi and highlighted the prevailing disparity that was experienced in every segment of the developing world. “This disparity is causing hardships to its respective populations and restricting their access to basic amenities of life, including health.”

Declaring health a birthright of every individual, Rizvi termed massive economic exploitation the root cause of prevailing disparity, pointing out that disparity of resources had increased. He elaborated that 80 per cent of the global population comprising the developing world was suffering because all the resources were owned by a small group of the 20 per cent developed world.

Dr Rizwan Naeem, professor of molecular pathology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, spoke on molecular and genetic screening, especially for cancer patients. Earlier, the chairman of the conference’s organising committee, Prof Mirza Naqi Zafar, had welcomed the guests and highlighted the theme of the conference: ‘70 Years of Pathology in Pakistan’.

He said the Pakistan Association of Pathologists (PAP) was started in 1976 with 18 pathologists and today the number stood beyond 20,000 across the country. PAP President Dr Farida Naseer, who declared the conference open, said the field of pathology was surging ahead in the world of medical sciences and now effective treatment of many ailments and diseases was based on pathological examinations and opinions of pathologists.

The conference would continue for the following two days and during the working sessions and workshops, issues and advancements in various branches of pathology, including microbiology, immunology, histopathology, infectious diseases, transplantation, haematology and genetics, would be discussed.