LAHORE: A consultative meeting of the core committee of the Pakistan Association of Alternative Medicine (PAAM) finalised a “policy draft and working paper” to make the country’s alternative medicine sector -- homeopathy, herbal, and Unani -- economically self-reliant and to transform it into an international industry.
During the meeting, PAAM core committee members Dr Tariq Mahmood Chaudhry and former director of homeopathy at the Punjab health department, Dr Jamil Akhtar Ghauri, met association president Kashif Aslam Malik and held consultations on the framework of the proposed federal ministry.
According to the policy draft, more than 80 per cent of the world’s population relies on alternative and natural methods of treatment.
It says China earns an annual $60 billion export profit from this sector, and India earns over $5bn in valuable foreign exchange. In contrast, despite having abundant natural resources and hundreds of thousands of qualified professionals, Pakistan accounts for less than 0.5pc of the global market due to the lack of an independent federal ministry, the draft adds.
The working paper prepared by PAAM highlights that establishing an autonomous federal ministry could be the fastest way to “pull Pakistan out of its economic crisis” and boost exports.
The PAAM leadership has presented three-year economic targets to the government and the parliament, setting the export target at $200 million for the first year, $500m for the second year, aiming to exceed $1.5bn in the third year through international trade agreements and business-to-business (B2B) partnerships.
The “policy draft” envisages commercial herb farming, to be initiated nationwide under the new ministry, directly benefiting the rural economy and local farmers.
Furthermore, this initiative aims to eliminate Pakistan’s reliance on expensive imported raw materials for the allopathic industry, making the country economically independent.
During the meeting, the PAAM leadership emphasised that the alternative medicine sector is facing a severe crisis due to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan’s (Drap) “hyper-focus on allopathic brands and bureaucratic red tape”.
They noted that introducing a one-window operation under an autonomous ministry would ensure medicine quality complies with the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Herb Pharmacopeia standards, while also reducing public healthcare expenditures at the government level by up to 50 percent through the provision of affordable alternative medicines.
Following the completion of the policy draft, PAAM has demanded a joint emergency meeting of the Senate and National Assembly standing committees on health and commerce, the formation of a dedicated task force and a special export package for alternative medicine manufacturers.
The PAAM core committee chairman reaffirmed the association’s commitment to presenting the “policy paper” to the prime minister and the federal cabinet soon, to make the country self-sufficient on both economic and medical fronts.
Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2026
