Islamabad: Pakistan can no longer afford to be consumers of other nations’ research, medicines, machines and technology, senior health experts and researchers said on Tuesday as they urged young clinicians and scientists to take the lead in collecting data, conducting studies, and writing research papers to bring the country onto the international research horizon.
They warned that without joint efforts and institutional linkages, the country would remain excluded from global guideline development, preventive strategies, and innovations in new drugs and treatments.
The call was made at an international workshop on Clinical Research in Resource-Constrained Environments, jointly organised by OIC-COMSTECH, the Health Research Advisory Board (HealthRAB), and the Institute of Innovation Leadership in Medicine & Management at the COMSTECH Secretariat in Islamabad. The workshop aimed at building research capacity, training healthcare professionals in low-resource settings, and establishing clinical research centres in institutions across Pakistan and other OIC member states.
Prof. Dr. Abdul Basit, a renowned diabetologist and Chairman of HealthRAB, lamented the weak research culture in Pakistan and said institutions were operating in silos, reluctant to share data even on the most prevalent diseases.
He underscored the urgent need for a unified national strategy, where every patient’s Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) could serve as a unique medical record number, enabling creation of a national health database.
“Unless we start gathering and sharing data systematically, our research will not be acknowledged globally,” Prof. Basit remarked. He proposed that Pakistan should first strengthen collaboration within its own institutions, then build research linkages with SAARC countries, and ultimately expand its partnerships with OIC member states.
Such cooperation, he said, would accelerate progress in science, technology, medicine, and disease management.
Prof. Basit further stressed that the young generation of clinicians and scientists must spearhead this transformation by initiating research projects in their own hospitals and universities.
“We can no longer afford to be consumers of other nations’ research. If Pakistan wants to be part of international guideline committees and drug development processes, it must produce its own quality research,” he said.
Dr. Zakiuddin Ahmed, General Secretary of HealthRAB, highlighted the vital role of science and technology in tackling disease prevention and management.
He pointed out that artificial intelligence and digital tools were rapidly transforming global healthcare and said Pakistan must embrace these technologies to keep pace.
“Research in isolation is not enough. We need robust information exchanges, data networks, and digital platforms to connect our clinicians and scientists with the global research community,” Dr. Zakiuddin said.
He added that HealthRAB, in collaboration with COMSTECH, was committed to creating enabling environments for such innovations, including the establishment of clinical research centres and leadership programmes in healthcare.
He emphasised that the use of artificial intelligence could help identify disease trends, predict outbreaks, and improve preventive care, while data sharing could reduce duplication of efforts and make healthcare more efficient. “The future of medicine is data-driven, and Pakistan must not be left behind,” he warned.
Coordinator General of OIC-COMSTECH, Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary, in his welcome message, acknowledged the limited infrastructure, funding shortages, and lack of trained personnel faced by researchers across the Muslim world.
He stressed that these constraints made collaboration and ingenuity even more important, adding that resource limitations should never become an excuse for inaction in science and medicine.
A panel discussion on building a collaborative health research ecosystem was led by Dr. Samina Naeem Khalid, Professor at the Health Services Academy, who reiterated the need for collective responsibility and institutional ownership.
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