ISLAMABAD: A delegation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Health Regulations (IHR), which was on a 10-day visit to Pakistan, found five weakest areas in the health sector and recommended the government to pay proper attention to them.

According to an official statement, the objectives of the mission were to assess the current capabilities in areas affecting the public health, identify gaps and challenges and provide recommendations for priority actions.

In reply to a question, Director General Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) Dr Asad Hafeez said though a detailed report would be received after two weeks, in the preliminary report the delegation identified a shortage of human resource in the health department.

“Laboratories and other systems required for diagnosis of diseases also needed to be strengthened. Moreover, the delegation stressed that steps should be taken for a strict monitoring at the entry and exit points of the country (airports) to ensure that diseases are not transmitted,” he said.

Govt asked to enhance national coordination and set up surveillance system against infectious diseases

For tackling the weaknesses, the delegation recommended coordination at the federal and provincial levels through a joint public health commission, defining key priorities, establishment of surveillance and laboratory systems, development of uniform regulatory standards for food security and checking the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) caused by an excessive use of antibiotics.

The visit was undertaken as part of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), which was launched in February 2014 to make the world safe and secure from infectious diseases and bring together nations to make new, concrete commitments and enhance the global health security.

Led by Dr Karen Slater, the delegation comprised international health experts, including Dr Mika Salminen and Dr Brian McCloskey.

Dr Asad Hafeez told Dawn that though health was already an important issue at the international level, after the outbreak of the Ebola virus it was being taken more seriously.

“After detailed deliberations, 19 technical areas in the health sector were identified under GHSA and it was decided that all countries would be pushed to take steps for the strengthening of the health system to ensure international health regulations. It was also decided that teams of health experts would visit different countries to analyse their strengths and weaknesses,” he said.

Though the teams have visited some of the developed countries such as the UK, Pakistan was the first country in the Eastern Mediterranean region and in Asia which voluntarily allowed the team of health experts for the visit, he said.

“We wanted that our weaknesses should be identified and after that we will start efforts to address those issues. We will also contact foreign donor agencies to cooperate in addressing the issues,” he said.

Speaking at a briefing on Friday, the regional director of WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region Office (EMRO), Dr Ala Alwan, appreciated the commitment of the Ministry of NHS and provincial departments for supporting the mission activities, said the statement.

Secretary NHS Ayub Sheikh said the government had fulfilled its commitment made during the last WHO regional committee meeting held at Kuwait in 2015 to carry out a joint external evaluation.

An official of the ministry requesting anonymity added that one of the major challenges which the country had been facing was the possibility of transportation of diseases from Pakistan to other countries.

“Another issue is the AMR because of the excessive use of antibiotics,” he said.

The misuse and overuse of antibiotics in human and animal health sector and food production have promoted widespread distribution of resistant organisms in Pakistan.

“It is observed that viruses have internal intelligence due to which they change itself according to medicines and create resistance against it.

“In the past, viruses could be killed with low potency medicines but now high potency medicines are required. So the use of antibiotics without prescription has to be banned otherwise the viruses can become immune to antibiotics,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2016