ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi said that Pakistan needed comprehensive disease prevention and early detection disease health eco-system to counter communicable and non-communicable diseases which would provide better healthcare to people and help reduce burden on country’s overstrained curative health system.  

Talking to a delegation of Royal College of Physicians UK led by Prof. Charles Twort, Chair Membership of Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) Examinations at Aiwan-e-Sadr, president expressed need for strengthening collaboration with Royal College of Physicians to bring about a fundamental change in quality and standards of healthcare system of Pakistan.

He appreciated Professor Aamir Ghafoor Khan for being first Pakistan-based physician to be awarded Practical Assessment of Clinical Examination Skills (PACES) Champion Award for year 2021-2022. Prof. Charles Twort, Chair MRCP-UK Exam, Royal College of Physicians informed president that RCP was working with partners in Pakistan under future hospital Pakistan programme, which was an entirely modern model of integrated healthcare support aimed at enhancing patient care in hospitals and community settings.

Such collaboration would provide cutting-edge quality healthcare to people of Pakistan and help meet WHO 2030 targets, he added. He emphasised that MRCP exam was an important opportunity for medical students to improve their clinical examination, communication skills with patients and diagnosis interpretation. He expressed his satisfaction over declaring CMH Lahore as second centre for holding MRCP exams after Islamabad-Rawalpindi on his recommendations and expressed need for declaring other big cities of country as MRCP exam centres, especially in Part-II Clinical to reduce backlog of exam aspirants across country.

He underlined need for creating institutional capability and capacity in health sector of Pakistan so as to retain and absorb highly qualified medical professionals and trained human resources and to attract expatriate Pakistani physicians and healthcare providers back to Pakistan for meeting acute shortage of healthcare providers in country.

He said with concern that estimated 24 percent of our population was facing mental health conditions which were causing stress and tension in society, besides increasing vulnerability of stressed population to resort to drug use, violence and extreme behaviours. He urged government to take immediate, meaningful and practical speedy measures for increasing number of trained and qualified psychiatrists, psychologists and supporting staff on a top priority basis which would strengthen mental health care system in country.  

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 19 2022

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