ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has called for initiating preventive efforts to reduce the burden and risk of diseases in the country.

“It is essential to focus on the prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases,” the president said while talking to the students of Azad Jammu Kashmir Medical College, Muzaffarabad, who called on him at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Wednesday.

Welcoming the students, the president stated that the world is changing very fast and the education system of the country should be adapted to the changing circumstances by focusing on improving the analytical abilities of the students. He added that students should improve their IT skills as IT was going to have vast applications in every profession of life.

Highlighting the importance of the nursing profession, the President said that the nursing profession had great significance and scope and the country needed to increase the number of nursing and paramedical staff. He remarked that Pakistan was facing a shortage of nurses as it required 900,000 nurses, whereas, only 200,000 nurses were working in the country at present who were unable to cater to the health needs of the growing population.

Underscoring the importance of education, the president said that progress could not be achieved without proper education, adding that the students should work hard and continue their profession to serve humanity.

The president also reiterated Pakistan’s resolve to continue its moral and diplomatic support to the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) till the achievement of their right to self-determination in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions. He emphasized that the international media needed to highlight the atrocities being committed by the Indian security forces in IIOJK. He mentioned that Pakistan had been raising the Jammu and Kashmir Dispute at every international forum to expose the real face of India which had been involved in gross human rights violations and persecution of Muslims and other minorities.

The Principal of AJKMC, Prof Dr Mulazim Hussain Bukhari, briefed the president about the role of the college in providing medical education to students since its establishment in 2011. He said that the students of the IIOJK were also studying in the college. He informed that the college had donated Rs20 million to the people of flood-affected areas and was also constructing 32 houses for them in District Dadu.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023