KARACHI: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Friday said that the government was eager to take advantage of modern technologies for enhanced access to preventive and curative healthcare for the people, particularly the most vulnerable ones.

The prime minister, addressing the HealthTech Summit held by the Aga Khan University, said the advent of modern technology in the health sector was an exciting time for patients, healthcare providers as well as the government.

He said the government needed support from the experts and professionals using modern technologies in the health sector as the provision of universal health coverage was the constitutional responsibility of the government. Through technology, our dream of providing quality health services will be fulfilled, he resolved.

The prime minister also highlighted the role of the private sector and philanthropists in fulfilling the dream of universal health coverage.

He said the potential of technology to reshape healthcare was immense as gene therapy was no more a fiction but a reality. Digital technology and artificial intelligence are powerful tools for healthcare providers to ensure the diagnosis far quicker than ever, he added.

Calling the AKU a national asset for Pakistan, the prime minister lauded the institution’s global ranking as well as its services during COVID-19 in the form of training thousands of professionals and setting up health clinics in the flood-hit areas. He said the AKU graduates were positively impacting society as ethical leaders and innovators and urged other institutions to emulate the best practices of the institution.

He said the services of the AKU in Pakistan and across the borders, were testimony to the vision and generosity of Prince Aga Kahn who believed that the people of Pakistan deserved the best of education and health facilities. Prime Minister Kakar said the technology had implications for the entire way of life including ethics, religion and democracy.

He also highlighted the challenges posed by modern technology tools which necessitated the role of regulations and the government. However, he said instead of containing the change, one should engage with it to use it productively. President AKU Sulaiman Shahabuddin, in his address, apprised the gathering about the summit and its significance. He also thanked the prime minister for attending the summit which he said manifested the government’s commitment to the health sector. Lt. General (retd) Dr Nigar Johar called for collaborated efforts to leverage modern technology as digitalization had brought improvements in many fields. She said the coordinated approach for public-private partnership at national, regional, and international levels for the achievement of universal health coverage was inevitable.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 09 2023

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