ISLAMABAD: Federal Secretary Health Muhammad Aslam Ghauri called for urgent strengthening of Pakistan’s one health system, warning that future pandemics cannot be prevented without coordinated action across human, animal and environmental sectors, besides, World Health Day was observed across the globe on Tuesday.
He was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day national training on pandemic preparedness under the One Health approach, organised by the Health Services Academy (HSA) at the Comstech Secretariat.
The federal secretary said recent global health emergencies had exposed systemic gaps in preparedness, adding that Pakistan must move beyond fragmented responses and invest in integrated surveillance, workforce development and institutional coordination.
“Pandemic preparedness is no longer a sectoral responsibility; it is a national priority requiring sustained collaboration,” he emphasised.
Earlier, Vice Chancellor HSA Prof. Dr Shahzad Ali Khan highlighted the importance of building institutional capacity and fostering evidence-based approaches to tackle emerging public health threats.
He noted that Pakistan’s vulnerability was increasing due to climate change, rapid urbanisation, and expanding human-animal interfaces, which were accelerating the emergence of infectious diseases.
He stressed that nearly 75 per cent of emerging infectious diseases originate from animals, underscoring the need for integrated surveillance systems and coordinated response mechanisms. Highlighting environmental dimensions, Director General for Environment, Climate Change, Dr Muhammad Asif Sahibzada, observed that environmental degradation, poor waste management and climate variability were increasingly driving disease patterns in Pakistan, calling for stronger integration of environmental monitoring into public health planning.
Data breach risks
Meanwhile, cybersecurity company Kaspersky has warned of risks tied to the digitisation of healthcare and the use of telemedicine.
“Recent incidents show that medical services can be breached, and as a result, medical records may be leaked and then traded on the dark web. The operations of healthcare services can get disrupted. Another aspect is that healthcare platforms may share user data with third parties that handle it irresponsibly”, it added.
“Telemedicine has moved from a convenience to a core part of healthcare delivery, but its security model has not kept pace with its adoption, and the risks are not theoretical. Recent incidents highlight how real these risks have become. In 2023, it was disclosed that a major telehealth provider focused on mental health services, had been sharing sensitive patient data – including mental health assessments, intake information, and personal identifiers – with third-party platforms such as social media and advertising networks. Millions of users were affected over several years,” it stated.
“More broadly, incidents in 2025 illustrate a different but equally critical risk – large-scale disruption of digital healthcare infrastructure. The breach of a patient portal exposed sensitive medical records of more than 120,000 patients, while the cyber attack on a similar platform compromised over a million records,” it stated.
“The digital healthcare experience is transforming access to care, but it is also expanding the attack surface in ways many users underestimate. Medical data is highly valuable and actively traded on the dark web, making patients a prime target for fraud and targeted phishing. At the same time, health-related scams exploit urgency and trust, using fake consultations or discounted offers to trick users into sharing sensitive information. Patients should approach digital healthcare with the same caution as financial services – verifying providers, avoiding unsolicited links, and understanding how their data is used. Security and privacy must become a core part of the digital healthcare experience,” remarks Anna Larkina, Web Content and Privacy Analysis Expert at Kaspersky.
Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2026
