President for pragmatic approach to bridge doctors-patients gap

KARACHI: President Mamnoon Hussain has sought pragmatic approach to bridge the present gap between the number of patients and their accessibility to qualified doctors in the country.
Addressing the first convocation of Bahria University Medical and Dental College on Monday, he referred to the existent dilemma whereby Pakistani doctors have earned laurels across the world while a large number of Pakistanis themselves, especially in the remote areas, have little or no access to health care.
President Mamnoon Hussain acknowledged that many of the medical graduates and other qualified professionals, who are best of the country's minds, opt for abroad, due to limited opportunities and insufficient infrastructure.
"We need to reverse the trend," he said and sought coordinated efforts to address the situation at both individual and collective levels".
He said the government is aware of the issues that the doctors and other medical practitioners face in discharge of their duties and is undertaking every possible measure to address the problems.
President of Pakistan recommended, as a panacea, a strong and a robust partnership of public and private sector to meet the health care requirements of the people.
He said the present government also attaches top priority to health sector and supports all endeavours aimed at improving the quality of health care available to the people.
The President on the occasion advised fresh medical graduates in the country to focus on attaining post graduate degree in specialties relevant to the country's need.
"Attaining the fellowship of the College of Physicians and Surgeons should be your next milestone, after completing house jobs," he said.
He reminded these graduates of their responsibilities towards their country-men and women who still have little or no access to quality health care facilities.
"Let us all work to improve health care facilities in the private and public sectors with the help of government, philanthropists and private investment, especially for poor and needy patients," he said.
Vice Admiral (retd) Shahid Iqbal, Rector of Bahria University Medical and Dental College (BUMDC) in his welcome address said illiteracy and low education rates are among major challenges country is exposed to.
"And therefore in realization of its responsibilities Pakistan Navy besides defending and safeguarding sea frontiers of the country has established educational institutions of very high standards," he said.
These institutions, the BUMDC said, range from schools to universities providing primary to tertiary and basic to professional education.
The BUMDC Principal, Dr. Shaheen Moin referred to series of measures adopted for turning the institution into one of the country's top level medical college.
President Mamnoon Hussain conferred gold medals upon Dr. Sana Khalid and Dr Samreen Kausar for clinching 12 and 11 distinctions respectively in their MBBS degree programme.