KARACHI: Health exp­erts on Thursday issued a clarion call at the inaugural session of an annual conference of pathologists asking all relevant stakeholders and regulators to make medical treatment and related investigations cheaper in the greater interest of predominantly poor people of the country.

The demand for affordable medical treatment for the people was made at the 40th annual conference of the Pakistan Association of Pathologists (PAP), which began at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Trans­plantation (SIUT).

The three-day conference is being attended by more than 70 practicing pathologists from across the country and abroad.

Chairman of the organising committee Prof Mirza Naqi Zafar welcomed the guests and highlighted the theme of the conference: ‘70 years of pathology in Pakistan’.

He said the association was founded in 1976 with 18 pathologists as members and that the number had crossed 20,000 in the country.

Prof Adibul Hasan Rizvi, director of SIUT, delivered his keynote address dedicated to late Prof Javed Kazi in which he highlighted the prevailing disparity experienced in every segment of the developing world.

He said such disparity had caused hardships to the population and restricted people’s access to avail basic amenities of life, including healthcare.

Discussing his own philosophy, “health is a birthright of every individual”, he said that the root cause of the prevalent disparity was massive economic exploitation.

Prof Rizvi said disparity of resources had increased as 80 per cent of the global population comprising developing world was suffering because all resources were owned by a small group of 20pc developed world.

He called upon the pathologists’ community to launch a movement in their medical research based on solid foundations to meet the challenges of the future and extend the cover of meaningful medical care.

He gave a detailed presentation on the activities of SIUT as an institution of special medical care for over the past 45 years.

Dr Rizwan Naeem, a professor of molecular pathology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, delivered the ‘Razi lecture’ named after Persian polymath and physician Mohammed ibn Zakariya al-Razi, in which he spoke on molecular and genetic screening especially for cancer patients.

He said the field of pathology was surging ahead in the world of medical sciences.

Dr Mohammed Mubarak, chairman of scientific committee, Dr Rizwan Naeem, Dr Sabiha Anis and Dr Khawar Abbas also spoke.

Organisers said the working sessions and workshops of the conference would discuss various branches of pathology, including microbiology, immunology, histopathology, infectious diseases, transplantation, haematology and genetics.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2017