KARACHI: In a significant move towards regional healthcare cooperation and digital innovation, Pakistan-based telehealth platform Educast has signed an agreement with partners in Yemen to support the first-ever telemedicine and capacity-building platform for doctors in the war-torn country.
The executing partners of the project are the Ministry of Public Health-Yemen and the Social Fund for Development-Yemen. It is supported and funded by the Islamic Development Bank-Jeddah and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, United Kingdom.
Under the agreement, Educast will serve as the technical partner for the platform, which will enable real-time consultations, training, and specialist support for Yemeni doctors.
“The network will be connecting 25 remote health centres in five of the targeted provinces — Abyan, Hadramaut, Shabwah, Al Mahrah and Lahij — to a major tertiary care hospital in Aden through a satellite link, where all experts will be available for consultation,” said Educast Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Butt.
Initiative positions Pakistan as emerging hub for telehealth and medical tourism, claims Educast CEO
He explained that the centres would be equipped with portable telemedicine kits, enabling real-time data transmission of patient conditions and vitals to remote doctors’ smartphones. Each provincial telecentre would be equipped with a virtual training facility, allowing local Yemeni doctors and healthcare workers to participate in interactive sessions with medical specialists in Pakistan as well.
The initiative, he pointed out, builds on the regional work in Afghanistan, where the organisation is already operating its telehealth education and clinical support facilities in 20 major provinces, offering capacity-building and teleconsultation services.
“The model demonstrates how telemedicine bridges access gaps in fragile states and conflict zones. Our platform has already delivered thousands of medical consultations in Yemen during the project’s pilot phase.”
A key component of the project, he said, involves Pakistan’s female eDoctors — qualified but previously non-practising doctors — who are now providing remote medical services to underserved communities in Yemen through the digital infrastructure.
The latest partnership, he believes, will scale this further by providing training to Yemeni doctors thru live case mentoring, and specialist consultation access via our secure telehealth systems.
Highlighting how Pakistan would benefit from the project, Dr Butt said the country was now positioned as a rising hub for cross-border medical services and medical tourism.
“As a Pakistan-based digital health platform, we are opening pathways for Yemenis and other regional patients to access care in Pakistan, setting the foundation for a stronger medical tourism economy,” he said.
Apart from its humanitarian impact, the initiative, he said, carries major economic potential.
“Pakistan’s healthcare system offers significant cost advantages compared to regional competitors. Here, cardiac surgeries are available at 30 to 70 per cent lower costs than in western countries. Treatments for infertility are also available at much lower costs. Waiting times are shorter and services are culturally aligned,” he explained.
Pakistan, he added, has the potential to capture two to five per cent of the global medical tourism market by introducing policy reforms and mobilising and training female doctors.
Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2025
