KARACHI: Bill soon on cadaver organ donation: Dow varsity symposium
KARACHI, Dec 16: The much-awaited Cadaver Organ Donation and Transplantation bill, which has been legally vetted by a parliamentary committee, would be presented before the National Assembly in its next session in January.
This was stated by federal health minister Mohammad Nasir Khan while speaking at the first annual symposium of the Dow University of Health Sciences here on Thursday.
Speaking on "care of community - marching towards excellence", the minister said the parliamentary committee, headed by MNA Dr Hajra, would be presenting the bill before the assembly for necessary debate following which its is expected to be adopted in the very session.
He further maintained that the government was conscious of its responsibilities and was concentrating more on strengthening the existent health care infrastructure, adequate training and provision of required facilities for health care providers and availability of doctors of excellence.
Acknowledging some of the facts presented by the WHO Representative to Pakistan, Dr Khalif Bille Mohammad, and economist Dr Kaiser Bengali, the minister said growing population had largely prevented the government from maintaining a balance between available resources and growing population.
He, however, referred to continuous increase made in the budgetary allocations for health sector during last few years and said that health budget had been increased to Rs 6.1 billion from Rs 3.4 billion only a few years back.
Besides increase in funds, Mohammad Nasir Khan said concrete measures were also being taken for the benefit of health care providers, which includes provision of stipends to post-graduate medical students, grant of pay scale between grades 14 and 16 for nurses.
A commission would also address the genuine problems of physiotherapists and pharmacists. Referring to adequate funds for all health care training institutions, with particular reference to DUHS and King Edward Medical College, Lahore, he said that the idea was to turn them into centres of excellence.
Earlier, Dr Khalif Bille Mohammad, WHO Representative to Pakistan stated that various communicable and non-communicable diseases are yet to be effectively contained in Pakistan.
He called for efforts to contain instances of acute diarrhoea and malaria. He also stated that despite passage of an ordinance, smoking and its related ailments were assuming alarming propositions in Pakistan where incidence of smoking is projected to reach 41 per cent of the country's total population by 2010 against a current prevalence rate of 36 per cent.
Dr Kaiser Bengali in his presentation "poverty, malnutrition and illness - can this vicious cycle be broken" referred to growing poverty and its impact on public health. He sought a realistic approach, coupled with a just and levelled mechanism enhancing provision for social security.
Prof M Saeed Quraishy, chairperson, organizing committee, said that presentation to be made would include five memorial lectures, 21 state-of-the-art lectures and 90 invited lectures, and at least 40 speakers would be arriving from abroad.
Prof. Masood Hameed Khan, Vice Chancellor of DUHS, said that the university, established less than a year ago, comprises Dow Medical College, Sindh Medical College and Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases.
Hence with a total of approximately 4,658 beds, more than 500 faculty and staff and a combined yearly intake of 550 plus students, the DUHS is currently the largest tertiary health care facility in Pakistan, he said. Dr. Abu Talib offered vote of thanks. -APP
