President for establishing telemedicine clinics to improve healthcare

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday emphasized the need for establishing primary healthcare telemedicine clinics to provide free advice to the people and improve the quality of healthcare in the country.

He said there was a need to invest in telemedicine through enhanced infrastructure, technology and human resource to provide equitable health facilities to the population living in remote areas of Pakistan.

The president was chairing a meeting on telehealth here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
The meeting was attended by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHSRC) Dr Faisal Sultan, Director General Health Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar and other senior government officials. The Ministry of NHSRC gave a presentation about the importance of telehealth in Pakistan.

The ministry informed that it provided free online consultation across Pakistan under the Sehat Express Portal, which provided medical advice to the people during the COVID-19 pandemic. President Alvi underscored the need to strengthen the capacity of health sector at the national level with the help of medical professionals in the fields of public health and artificial intelligence to analyze various data sets and predict outbreaks of the epidemics.

He stated that the government was committed to transform the healthcare delivery sector of the entire country and initiate measures to provide free-of-cost medical advice to the people under the telehealth programme.

The president emphasized the need for amalgamating all platforms working for telehealth in the country so as to provide medical relief to the people in a more efficient and effective manner.