Karachi: Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal on Thursday called for greater investment in the healthcare sector including preventive healthcare and health technologies, warning that the needs of Pakistan’s 260 million people were growing faster than the capacity of its health system.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the 23rd Health Asia International Exhibition and Conferences at the Karachi Expo Centre, he said 6.7 million children were born annually and Pakistan could become the world’s fourth most populous country by 2030.
He warned that illness among even a small proportion of the population could overwhelm hospitals and other health facilities.
“Healthcare is about preventing people from becoming patients. Building hospitals and waiting for patients is sick care,” Kamal said, urging greater investment in preventive services alongside new facilities.
The minister said federal health authorities had increased bed capacity in Islamabad from 2,100 to 2,595 during the past 14 months. Building 15 new hospitals could take 15 years, while expanding beds and services at existing facilities could provide quicker relief, he added.
Mustafa Kamal said Chinese companies had signed agreements to invest $663 million in Pakistan’s health sector.
Mr. Farhan Anis, Project Director said “Health Asia is expected to generate more than $100 million in business during its three-day run. More than 20,000 visitors attended the exhibition on its opening day”.
The inaugural ceremony also featured the signing of two memorandums of understanding. One aims to improve certification standards for healthcare facilities, while the other seeks to expand access to medical consultations through telemedicine.
After inaugurating the exhibition, Mustafa Kamal visited stalls operated by Pakistani medical-device manufacturers and said increasing domestic production could reduce reliance on imported healthcare equipment.
He also invited foreign manufacturers to enter technology-transfer partnerships with Pakistani companies to help develop long-term domestic manufacturing capacity.
More than 200 exhibitors from 29 countries are participating in the event, which features over 600 stalls across five halls. The exhibition has been organised by E-commerce Gateway Pakistan in collaboration with the federal health ministry and will continue until Saturday.
Mustafa Kamal said the government was digitalising the licensing and registration of medical devices, claiming that applications that previously took up to two years were now being processed within 21 days.
He said Pakistan had introduced its first vaccine policy and was approaching an agreement with Indonesia to support local vaccine production. Children in Pakistan were currently receiving routine immunisation against 13 diseases, he added.
The minister said the government was also discussing with the National Database and Registration Authority the use of each citizen’s computerised national identity card number as a universal medical-record number.
Pakistan currently exports medicines to 53 countries and is pursuing World Health Organisation Maturity Level 3 status for its medicines regulatory system, he said. Kamal added that the status could open access to about 100 additional markets.
He said Pakistan faced an estimated shortage of 900,000 nurses and needed reforms in nursing education. He also cited nearly 11,000 maternal deaths annually and said nutritional deficiencies were impairing the physical and mental development of 43 percent of children.
Dr Zakiuddin Ahmed, Convenor & Co-Founder, Health Asia said the conference programme was intended to bring clinicians, policymakers, universities and the healthcare industry together to identify practical solutions to Pakistan’s health challenges.
He said discussions on digital health, patient safety, clinical standards and workforce training should ultimately result in safer treatment, improved professional practices and better access to healthcare for patients.
The programme includes more than 25 conferences and workshops on digital health, pharmaceutical marketing, diabetes, dentistry, patient safety, artificial intelligence, nursing, cardiac surgery, radiology and medical-device development, with more than 30 international speakers expected to participate.