ISLAMABAD, Nov 2: The government plans to set up family development centers (FDCs), at Tehsil level by 2005, enabling people to access advanced family planning methods.

Federal Minister for Population Welfare, Dr Attiya Inayatullah said at the concluding session of a three-day conference on Pakistan’s Population Stabilization Prospects,” organized here at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), on Friday. The conference was arranged by the Population Association of Pakistan (PAP).

About 1600 existing FDCs would be upgraded in the coming years with a mobile service for every FDC at Tehsil level. These FDCs would comprise male and female members from every union council.

She said that a management programme would be finalized by December 30, after consultation with provinces. The provinces would be authorized to decide on the timeframe and measures needed for upgradation.

These FDCs would serve as a gathering place for the community where different functions would be organized to attract people to provide them basic health information, skills and literacy about family planning, Dr Attiya said.

Management committee of these FDCs would include newly elected women counsellors and other community members.

She lamented that the family planning could not achieve the required success in Pakistan due to lack of political commitment. She suggested the PAP should coordinate with the UNFPA to hold similar conferences at district level with the active participation of Nazims so that the new system could be strengthened.

The conference was also addressed by Executive Director Pims, Prof Azhar Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Azra Qureshi, Dr Wasim Zaman and Begum Surriya Jabeen.

Chairing an interactive panel discussion, she suggested that an in-depth analysis of census data should be carried out to highlight the issues of reproductive health and rural-urban migration.

Mr Ismail Qureshi, former secretary health Punjab highlighted the importance of service delivery, quality of service and implementation of the programme under the devolution plan.

Dr Wasim Zaman, the UNFPA representative from Nepal said social and cultural factors should be given importance while conducting research on social issues like reproductive health, women empowerment and remarked that Pakistan was not taking advantage of the services of the NGOs.