ISLAMABAD: Health Minister Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday announced that a secondary care hospital would be established near Lohi Bher.

He said the Basic Health Unit (BHU) Bhukkar will be upgraded as secondary care hospital so that the people of Zone V of Islamabad would get the health facility at the nearest approach instead of going to Pims and Polyclinic.

The minister said this while inaugurating the fifth Telemedicine Centre at Basic Health Unit Bhukkar in Zone V.

He affirmed the government’s commitment to rapidly fulfill its promises to the public and strengthen the country’s primary healthcare system.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony in the rural area of Islamabad, Mustafa Kamal said the government was taking effective and practical measures to reinforce primary healthcare services nationwide.

He emphasised that with the rapidly growing population, the patient burden on hospitals was increasing continuously, and the most effective and sustainable solution lied in the optimal use of modern healthcare technologies, particularly telemedicine.

He highlighted that telemedicine enabled the delivery of quality healthcare services not only in urban centres but also in remote and rural areas, ensuring that citizens have access to the same standard of medical consultation available in major cities.

He said in digital age, a doctor’s physical presence was no longer essential for basic medical care, as telemedicine had emerged as an efficient and reliable system for timely diagnosis and treatment.

The health minister announced that the BHU Bhukkar health facility would be upgraded from a primary to a secondary healthcare centre, further improving healthcare access and service delivery for the local population.

Sharing further details, he said 5,000 doctors had been allocated across the country for digitalised healthcare centres, who would provide online medical consultations from 9am to 6pm.

He added that telemedicine presented a valuable opportunity for female doctors who had discontinued medical practice and were based at home, enabling their reintegration into the national healthcare system while strengthening service coverage.

The minister further stated that trained medical staff would remain present at telemedicine centres to facilitate patients, and the scope of telemedicine services would continue to expand across basic health units.

He emphasised that healthcare centres would not be limited to curative services alone but would also function as platforms for health awareness, disease prevention, and community engagement.

Mr Kamal said the ministry was working proactively to prevent diseases rather than only treating illnesses.

He also underscored that the government was delivering vaccination services against 13 deadly diseases at the doorstep of communities, urging parents to ensure complete immunisation of their children to help build a healthy, resilient, and prosperous society.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sara Saeed Khurram, co-founder and CEO of Sehat Kahani, said: “This project will achieve its full potential when more patients can consult doctors online through telemedicine. We plan to continue this initiative by opening additional digital centres so that more families can benefit from reliable and timely healthcare services.”

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2026