ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister's Coordinator on National Health Services and Coordination Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Bharath has said that the government is making all possible efforts to revolutionise the healthcare sector of the country to provide modern facilities to the masses.
During his visit to the Sehat Sahulat Programme data centre here on Friday, he said that the government was well aware of the problems of the common man. He said that the government believes in one Pakistan, one Universal Health Care (UHC) and one Universal Health Insurance (UHI) implemented by provinces in the light of National Unified Policy.
There are problems in our system to tackle family planning that despite the National Action Plan on population, the population growth rate is increasing at an alarming rate. The prime minister is very much concerned about polio, family planning and nutrition of the general masses.
Dr Bharath said that the country was not only facing various health-related issues but Pakistan’s population growth rate was increasing at an alarming pace and the government was committed to amicably tackle all these problems. Advanced digital tools and artificial intelligence are being leveraged in the controls and gate keeping mechanisms implemented in the health facility programme, he said.
He highlighted the urgent concerns he inherited, including polio, family planning, and nutrition and emphasised the importance of convening all stakeholders to collectively address these challenges through collaborative problem-solving by acknowledging the limitations posed by the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
He advocated for a comprehensive strategy endorsed by all stakeholders to tackle the issues such as unmet needs, universal coverage, and unwanted pregnancies and proposed integration of population welfare and health departments at provincial levels as well as the merger of Lady Health Worker’s programme in the population welfare department.
He further called for incorporating family planning into the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) to enhance service delivery and encouraged participants to share insights and obstacles from their respective provinces, acknowledging their expertise and diverse perspectives.
He urged participants to focus on practical issues which can be addressed rather than contentious issues like the NFC or matters affecting national security and unity and hoped that collaborative efforts would yield meaningful recommendations and pave the way for advocacy at the provincial and regional levels.
He said that the government will strengthen the public health system and integrate Qaumi Sehat Card Programme with primary healthcare to make it more sustainable for the government.
He emphasised and highlighted the good work done by the ministry and its programme team and said, we need to work hard to further improve on the reassessment of empanelled hospitals and to consider high and private hospitals to enhance the benefit to the poor population at least for specialised procedures.
Sehat Sahulat Programme Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Muhammad Arshad, while briefing on the current implementation status of the programme, said that under the programme UHI coverage provided to the 2.5 million beneficiary families of AJK, GB, ICT, and district Tharparkar through federal funding.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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