President Asif Ali Zardari said on Wednesday that the provision of quality healthcare to the people especially the under-served and marginalized, is a key element of the social sector agenda of the present government.
In a message on the occasion of the World Health Day falling which is being celebrated today (Thursday), he said, “Inspired by the vision of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, who introduced revolutionary programmes during her tenure as prime minister, we remain committed to ensuring that healthcare is available at the doorsteps of the masses”. The president said, “We live in an era of medical breakthrough with new `wonder drugs’ available to treat conditions that a few decades ago would have proved fatal”. The World Health Organisation has titled this year’s World Health Day as “Combat Antimicrobial Resistance: No Action Today, No Cure Tomorrow”.
Zardari said the emergence of anti-microbial resistance is a complex problem that involves a range of stakeholders. Today, the global community is calling for action to raise awareness, both amongst the health providers and the masses to combat drug resistance through a six-point policy package: joint planning, surveillance, drug regulation, rational use of medicines, infection prevention and control, innovation and research.
He urged the federal and provincial governments, industry and stakeholders including masses to answer the call for global health security and save millions of lives that are at risk. He said it is indeed encouraging that the World Health Day this year has highlighted a very important but largely ignored concept of modern healthcare.
He wished the Health Ministry and the organisers of the campaign success in raising awareness among all stakeholders and the people about the theme of this year’s World Health Day. In his message, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said that the government is strongly committed to fight diseases for a healthier and happier future of Pakistanis.
He said by joining hands with the world, the government expresses its commitment to implement the policies and practices needed to prevent and counter the emergence of highly resistant micro-organisms by utilising all the possible resources. “We are living in an era where health issues are getting complicated. It is the need of time to devise strategies that can save the populations from diseases, especially the infectious ailments.”
Gilani said the government is focusing on the efficient management of treatments and all those loopholes must be plugged which result in drug resistance amongst the patients. He appreciated all the health professionals, workers and stakeholders for making efforts to provide health facilities and right treatment to the people in the length and breadth of country. “This World Health Day is a wake-up call to nations of the world to work more for saving the populations from increasing burden of diseases,” he noted.
The prime minister urged all individuals, communities and governments to perform their roles to minimise the menace of ineffective treatments, which are becoming more urgent and serious day by day. “As depicted in the theme of World Health Day, if we will not act today, we can not save the coming generations.”
“Inspired by the vision of our shaheed leaders, once again, I articulate the long standing commitment of the democratic government to improve living conditions for the people, as it believes that access to better healthcare is the basic right of every citizen,” he added.