Large scale cultivation of medicinal plants urged

A distinguished scientist and a former chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Professor Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, has stressed the need for setting up a central institute for large scale cultivation of medicinal plants, as these are depleting fast in the country due to what he described as the improper planning and negligence of the authorities concerned.
Around 40 per cent of modern medicines aree prepared of medicinal plants and hence there was a dire need to save these plants from devastation, as various fatal diseases could be avoided by conducting more research on such plants to discover effective drugs, he said while speaking at a moot, says a statement on Sunday.
Professor Atta, a former federal minister, further pointed out that in addition to medicinal purposes the country could also earn a huge foreign exchange by exporting medicinal plants to the international market. The one-day workshop entitled "Natural Product-Based Drugs and Other Botanicals - Present Status and Future Prospects", was held at the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), Karachi University.
According to organisers, the workshop was jointly arranged by the ICCBS and British Council Pakistan. The objective of the event was to review the present status and future prospects of Natural product drugs and botanicals.
Professor Atta-ur-Rahman, who is currently working as the Co-ordinator General, COMSTECH, pointed out that India has set up Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), which is dedicated to the cause of medicinal and aromatic plant research, cultivation and business. In Pakistan, Dr Atta stressed; there was a dire need to establish modern research laboratory for clinical trials of medicinal drugs that are being used in the country.
The Regional Director British Council, Mashhood Rizvi, said that Higher Education Links Programme between British Council and the HEC Pakistan had great value, as such programmes brought people of both the countries closer.
He said that the great initiatives of HEC under the leadership of Professor Atta-ur-Rahman had broken the myth that Pakistan was not capable of promoting higher education in the country. Director ICCBS, Professor Dr M. Iqbal Chaudhry, stressed the need for developing new effective and safer drugs in the country, and said that people in the third world countries were dying with tropical diseases but no effective drugs were available.
"There is a need for new, more effective and safer therapies for existing or emerging diseases, increasing global demand of healthcare products for bulging populations, and the high prices of conventional mainly synthetic pharmaceuticals as well as the modern medicines are often out of reach of a large segment of human population and reasons for a robust health food and alternate medicine market," he remarked. The tremendous floral resources, rich traditions in health and economy, world-class scientific capacity and vibrant industrial sector was available in the country, which makes the country capable of playing a major role in this arena, he said. The Karachi University's Registrar, Professor Rais Alvi, and Professor Dr Fatima Z Basha, who was the organiser of the workshop, also spoke on the occasion.