KARACHI, Aug 17: Non-availability of trained health-care workforce remains a critical deficiency in Pakistan, said speakers at a seminar here on Wednesday.

The two-day event jointly organized by the Aga Khan University and WHO, is being attended by paediatricians and researchers from across the country.

The participants, extensively deliberating the issue of child survival, minced no words in expressing their reservations about quality of education and training imparted to students registered with a large majority of medical colleges scattered across the country.

The situation was stated to be all the more serious with regard to nurses and allied personnel. It was unanimously suggested that under-graduate medical and allied training programmes must hold provision for management of diseases that continue to haunt local children and often result in unwarranted deaths.

The participants of the moot "Research to policy interface for child health and nutrition in Pakistan", also stressed that the over-burdened lady health workers, already required to realize 30 different responsibilities, with extra workload may not produce desired results of having improved public accessibility to quality health-care facilities.

The importance of properly functional infrastructure and good governance was also raised. Senior professionals, attending the programme, also suggested a realistic approach while incorporating any global strategy in the national health care programmes.

Significance of birth-spacing in context of improved child survival rates was also highlighted. The participants, including Dr Azra, Dr Habiba Hasan, Dr D S Akram, Dr M A Arif, Dr Inkisar Ali, Dr Iqbal Memon, Dr Zeenat Issani and several others participated in the debate.

There was also a demand for easy public accessibility to clean water preventing a significant number of diseases that often prove fatal.

Earlier, during the inaugural session, Dr Abdul Haq from the Global Forum for Health – Geneva -- in his key-note address "priority-setting process for child research implementation in

Pakistan" said 66 per cent of the available global strategies could be easily implemented by all countries, including those from the developed world.

The Global Forum for Health representative, a Pakistani by origin, said child health and nutrition is a priority area for government and donors, and that substantial funding is also available for research in the field.

He commented that while there generally remains an unusual tussle between researchers and policy-makers, evidence based research and interventions can bridge the gap and contribute as confidence building measure, paving the way for a shared vision and response. –PPI