KARACHI, Sept 3: WHO is assisting the government of Pakistan in establishing a unit for the development of the national health policy.

This was stated by Dr M. Assai Ardakani, a representative of Dr Khalif Bile Mohamud, chief of WHO Pakistan, at the inaugural ceremony of the third regional conference on “EMR Health Sciences Virtual Library” here on Wednesday.

According to the WHO personnel, a plan is also being prepared for Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR).

“Furthermore, we are attaching great importance to generation of evidence-based data from all sources making it reliable for decision-making in the health sector by using the Health Management Information System (HMIS),” Dr Ardakani added.

He said WHO had succeeded in securing the approval of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council for the newly devised Community Oriented Medical Education (COME) curriculum and efforts were also being made to update and improve training of nurses and paramedics through updating curricula and holding training courses.

“We are also supporting the formation of a national drug authority for improved implementation of the national drug policy,” he said adding that this would be besides the promotion of rational use of drugs through GMP, GPP, quality assurance and improved registration and licensing.

He said improvement of institutional capacity of laboratories through capacity building was also under way to lay the foundation for a sound public health laboratory services in Pakistan.

He further said that WHO was also encouraging involvement of communities in planning and management of socio-economic development through implementation and expansion of the Basic Development Needs Programme in all the provinces of the country, which was being owned by provincial and district governments as was evidenced by the approval of PC-1s and other measures.

The newly evolved district health care systems after the devolution process, he said, were being strengthened through capacity building of FLCF workers and district health management teams on implementation of integrated primary health care.

The WHO personnel further said that in the area of health promotion and protection alliances were being built with provincial and district health departments for approval and implementation of an ordinance for prohibition of smoking, protection of non-smokers and revitalization of school health services.

Mr Ardakani went on: “Efforts are also being made to facilitate provision of safe drinking water in communities, improved eye-care services in order to prevent blindness, integrated health care, waste management, screening of cancer patients, implementation of an oral health action plan, substance abuse prevention and management, healthy hospital initiative, prevention and management of noncommunicable diseases and food safety”.

The session was also addressed by CPSP president, Prof Mohammad Sultan Farooqui, Dr Abdel Hamid Aly Nada, representative of ISESCO, Dr Najeeb Al Shorbaji and Dr Syeda Kausar Ali.—APP