KARACHI: Expat Pakistanis have planned major healthcare projects in the country, under which selected hospitals would be upgraded and healthcare providers would be trained as per international standards.

This was shared by experts at a programme held at the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) House on Monday.

Briefing about the initiatives, Dr Qaiser Sajjad, a member of the group representing Pakistan, said that the Non Resident Pakistanis (NRP), (Washington Group) had partnered with National Centre for Healthcare Workers (NCHW), US, for undertaking different projects.

“Under this platform, all Pakistani professionals working abroad in countries such as the US, Canada, the UK and the Middle East who are keen to work for their own country have teamed up to work on priority sectors as agriculture, energy and health,” he said.

The NRP, he pointed out, was a fully funded corporation registered in Maryland, Washington, and headed by Shahab Qarni. A representative delegation of the group had recently visited Islamabad and Lahore before arriving in Karachi, he added.

About the health projects, Ayaz Jarral representing the NRP and NCHW said they included the establishment of healthcare givers’ workforce in Pakistan trained on the international standards. This would open up opportunities for the local workforce in the emerging markets of the US, Canada, UK and the Middle East.

According to him, there is also a project for establishing a network of health community centres that would be interconnected with smart mobile health vans to cover rural and urban slum areas, mainly in Punjab and other provinces.

“The first pilot project of NRP in Pakistan is in the health sector because there is a growing demand for healthcare givers globally. According to the World Health Organisation), there would be a demand for 15.2 million healthcare providers in the next 15 years across the world,” Mr Jarral said.

The speakers were of the opinion that Pakistan had no dearth of talented youth and the initiatives would create job opportunities for them in the local and international markets.

The speakers included Dr Maqsood Ahmed, the chief executive officer of Drug Rehab North Carolina, US, Dr Nadeem Rizvi, the US chair World Medical City Karachi Initiative, Pakistan and Mohammad Saleem, the chief executive officer of Fitwell Health, UK.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2024