OIC urges ‘immediate, decisive’ steps to combat Covid-19

ISLAMABAD: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Dr Yousef al-Othaimeen on Friday highlighted the need for member states to take “immediate and decisive measures” to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the extraordinary meeting of OIC Steering Committee on Health on Covid-19, he expressed OIC’s readiness to utilise its available resources to help the peoples of the Islamic world in these difficult times and expressed appreciation to the Islamic Development Bank and the Islamic Solidarity Fund for their initiatives.

An emergency virtual meeting of the OIC- Steering Committee on Health (SCH) at the health ministers-level was held to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic, a Foreign Office press release issued here said. The meeting was attended by Ministers of Health and representatives from OIC-SCH member States, heads/representatives of OIC institutions/organs, including president of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB Group), and a number of international organizations.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) and Minister of State for Health Dr Zafar Mirza represented Pakistan in the Conference. Speaking on the occasion Mirza stated that the 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. The SAPM stated that planning and coordination efforts were being led by Prime Minister Imran Khan himself.

To ensure a unified national response, a robust institutional mechanism was set up under the National Security Committee (NSC) and National Coordination Committee (NCC).

The SAPM emphasised that 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.The SAPM assured the General Secretariat and OIC member States of Pakistan’s full cooperation in combating the pandemic.

A joint statement was also issued at the end of the virtual meeting which, inter alia, called on the OIC countries to exchange more information, experiences and capabilities to combat Covid-19 pandemic. Pakistan is a member of the OIC-SCH. Other members include Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Maldives, Mauritania, Chad, Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Sudan.