KARACHI, Feb 18: Several medical professionals and a legislator taking part in a conference on pharmacy called on Wednesday for innovative steps to improve the quality of health care that is provided to the people.

Sindh Assembly Speaker S. Muzaffar Hussain Shah underlined the need for launching a movement aimed at providing basic facilities to the masses, including health care. For this purpose he urged the civil society to come forward and play an effective role.

Speaking as the chief guest at the opening session of the three- day Twelfth International Pharmacy Conference, entitled "Innovation in Pharmacy for Life Saving," Mr Shah observed that the government had formulated a health-care policy under which efforts were being undertaken to provide good care to the public. The event was organized by the Pakistan Pharmacists Association (PPA).

The private and public organizations should join hands with each other to provide quality medical care to the common people. He explained that in the proposed movement every stakeholder in the system, namely the government, industry, civil society and the people, should take part.

Mr Shah claimed that even after the passage of more than 56 years, the common Pakistanis were yet to taste the "fruits of independence".

They often had to travel dozens of miles to reach a health-care unit, where they were greeted with indifferent staff and poor facilities. The world, after globalization, had tremendously shrunk and become a village, but the Pakistanis still did not have a proper health- care system.

The federal government had formulated many ambitious programmes regarding reproductive health, eradication of polio, TB and Malaria. Mr Shah underscored the need for the delivery of a good health service to the poor and appealed for coordination among all the stakeholders.

Research and human resource development were the key elements in the progress of any nation, he said. Turning to the pharmaceutical industry, he remarked: "You must produce quality-oriented medicines at lower costs."

The speaker of the provincial legislature said he would try to resolve the pharmacists' problems. For this purpose, he asked the organizers of the conference to formulate and submit a set of recommendations to him.

In his welcome address, President of the PPA, Ayaz Ali Khan, described the role of the pharmacists in any health-care system. The pharmacists had not been allowed to play their due role, added Mr Khan.

There was no service structure for them and they were almost never considered for promotions in the government organizations. He was of the opinion that the number of pharmacists should be increased in the government-run institutions.

"For better care the pharmacists should be consulted at every level of organization," opined Mr Khan. Obaid Ali, a member of the PPA, gave an overview on the current scenario.

In the developed world, every drug was prescribed in consultation with the pharmacists. In Pakistan, on the other hand, the pharmacist was never given any importance.

Chairman of the organizing committee, Dr Ali Akbar Sial, and Abdul H. Khan also spoke on the occasion. Later, the speaker of the Sindh Assembly gave away shields and mementos

He also formally opened the exhibition organized on the sidelines of the event. The three-day event is being attended by hundreds of pharmacists from all over the country and also from abroad.