The second Saarc health ministers conference would commence here on Friday with Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on top of its agenda. The other major challenges for the health experts would be to draw up an action plan for abating crippling numbers of HIV/AIDS carriers in South Asia.
Briefing newsmen, federal Health Minister Muhammad Nasir Khan said that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz would formally inaugurate the two-day conference on July 16.
Federal Health Secretary Syed Anwer Mehmood and Director General Abdul Majid Rajput were also present on the occasion.
The conference will devise plan to jointly fight AIDS, hepatitis, non-communicable and other diseases that have spread at an alarming pace in the region and need to be tackled urgently.
Nasir said federal ministers and ministers of states from Saarc member countries will attend the conference with the commitment to ensure healthy South Asia. To a question, he said the Indian minister of state for health would also attend the conference.
Highlighting the agenda of the conference, the minister said that the experts would deliberate upon MDGs. Over 50 percent of the MDGs are related to health sector, he said, fearing that some of the member countries would fail to achieve these goals by 2015.
The United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) had already expressed apprehension about Pakistan's ability to achieve Millennium Development Goals.
The minister said lack of access to safe drinking water and clean sanitation facilities are also serious issues being confronted by the South Asian countries. There would be different sessions to thoroughly devise measures for improvement of maternal health, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases.
Highlighting the importance of research in health sector, especially in pharmaceutical industry, Nasir said there was a dire need of co-operation among the member states.
He said the government was preparing a national strategy to develop research culture in Pakistan. India has allocated $600-700 million for research in health sector, he said.
He said there are nearly 5.2 million HIV/AIDS victims in India, but the situation in Pakistan was not much alarming, as there are only 5,000 HIV/AIDS carriers.
However, he said co-operation and information sharing among Saarc states is very important so as to control the damage by taking pre-emptive measures.
He said the experts would also devise a mechanism to meet any natural disaster like earthquake in any member state. "We will offer to set up a centre in this regard in Pakistan. All member states would pool in their resources," he said.
The minister said a draft bill would soon be submitted to the National Assembly for registration of traditional medicines.
Speaking about illegal trade of spurious drugs, he said the issue would be discussed in detail, as it is very critical for public health.
To another question regarding high prices of medicines, Nasir said 51 percent of the medicines are cheaper here as compared to India.
The health secretary said the government has not allowed increase in the prices of essential medicines for the last four years. "The essential medicines are very cheap here which is a major factor that these medicines are being smuggled to India," he claimed.
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