Pakistan diaspora health initiative launched

Islamabad : The government Saturday announced its plan to rollout the ‘Pakistan Diaspora Health Initiative’ for which a Secretariat will be established in Islamabad. The initiative will provide a platform for overseas Pakistani healthcare professionals to share their expertise, knowledge, and finances for the benefit of the people of Pakistan.

Special assistants to the Prime Minister on Health and Overseas Pakistanis, Dr. Zafar Mirza and Syed Zulfi Bukhari respectively, announced the initiative, which is a collaborative venture of the Ministry of National Health Services and the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development.

The landmark initiative will provide a platform to overseas Pakistanis working in the area of health-care to share their expertise, knowledge and invest for the benefit of the people of Pakistan said Dr. Zafar Mirza while speaking on the occasion.

The initiative is in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to facilitate overseas Pakistanis.

Syed Zulfi Bukhari said this was a joint initiative of his Ministry and Health Ministry and would go a long way in facilitating overseas Pakistanis working in the field of health across the world.

The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination in collaboration with Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development is ideally suited to spearhead a public-private partnership, with an independent, transparently run secretariat to create a such platform.

This platform will be sustainable well beyond the life of a single government or tenure of a single minister.

To realise this vision, the platform will be transparent, scalable and run in lean and efficient manner.

Furthermore, ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and frequent adjustments will be an integral part of this initiative.

Given the urgency to rollout this initiative, Health and overseas ministries will jointly establish a secretariat in Islamabad to carry out the implementation of the platform, and create a user friendly online portal that is publicly available.

Diaspora health organisations like The Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) and Association of Pakistani Physicians and Surgeons UK (APPS) will be crucial partners in reaching out to and mobilizing the diaspora communities.

Furthermore, there is an opportunity to leverage the reach of Pakistani based diplomatic missions etc.