LAHORE: Adviser to the Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafiq says it is unfortunate that Pakistan has the highest mother and child death rate in the world.

At the inaugural of a three-day International Health Conference for Reforms in Secondary Healthcare System in Punjab at a local hotel on Wednesday, Mr Rafiq said the government was taking far-reaching measures to remove the flaws of primary and secondary healthcare system and improvement of health indicators.

Dr Ahmad Ravaghi from Egypt, Punjab Health Secretary Jawad Rafiq Malik, representatives of the World Health Organization, UNICEF, USAID, UNFP and Save the Children Pakistan, public health experts and representatives of Chief Minister’s Health Road-map attended the conference. In the conference, primary health experts will present workable recommendations and way forward for interlinking primary health to secondary healthcare and improvement of the system. The conference strongly condemned the terrorism in Peshawar.

Mr Malik said that working groups had submitted their recommendations for the reformation of the health sector.

He said the conference aimed at consolidating recommendations of experts for the improvement of secondary healthcare system and to evolve a way forward for such a system in which merit, accountability, monitoring, award for hard workers and punishment on poor performance be included.

Earlier, Dr Ravaghi presented a review about the Punjab health system, situation in hospitals and preliminary recommendations to remove shortcomings.

Final recommendations will be furnished in the concluding session of the event.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2014