Staff Reporter
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services Regulations and Coordination, Dr Zafar Mirza Monday said, the government had planned to upgrade primary health care system to ensure provision of best medical services to everyone.
Talking to media persons, Dr Zafar Mirza said that 16 rural health centers (RHCs) of the federal capital were being upgraded while the government was also focusing on making improvement in basic health units (BHUs).
He said that there was plan to increase services at major hospitals of the federal capital. He added the main focus of the government was to improve healthcare delivery system.
He said Pakistan was the first country in the world to use localized evidence on Disease Control Priorities 3 and Burden of Disease to develop an essential package of health services/ UHC benefit package of Pakistan. He said achievement of this milestone and implementation of the package in future would help to improve health outcomes and making speedy progress towards UHC.
He said that the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination in partnership with the provincial and area departments of health, the Disease Control Priorities 3 Secretariat at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners is finalizing an evidence based Universal Health Coverage (UHC) benefit package for Pakistan.
Later, addressing the inaugural session of the five-day discourse, he said national discourse for the development and implementation of UHC benefit package will review localized scientific evidence on cost effectiveness and burden of diseases in Pakistan and using the information to prioritize health interventions for essential health services.
In partnership with WHO, the DCP3 secretariat funded by the Bill & Malinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is providing technical support to the government of Pakistan through LSHTM, Radboud University, Aga Khan University and Health Services Academy to assist the development of the UHC benefit package of Pakistan, he added.
