Sindh Secretary Health Saeed Awan has said that the government is facing immense difficulties in hiring trained and qualified medical specialists for its tertiary-care hospitals in the province. "Private sector and NGOs should cooperate and support to provide quality health facilities to the people of the province," he said, peaking at the 2nd annual conference of Pak GI and Liver Disease (PGLDS) Society held at a hotel, here on Saturday.
Dozens of national and international speakers from Azerbaijan, Middle Eastern and European countries were presenting their papers and presentations at the three-day conference on stomach diseases, hepatitis and related illness and advancements in their treatment. Awan said that provision of health facilities and services to people is responsibility of the government that cannot fulfil this task alone due to financial constraints. He said they need support and cooperation from the private sector, NGOs and medical community to meet the health needs of people. He said billions of rupees were being spent to provide free of cost state-of-the-art medical facilities to people but difficulties badly affected trained and qualified staff's hiring. In this scenario, contribution of private health sector and NGOs becomes very crucial.
"We have launched public-private partnerships with PPHI, Hands and IHS for provision of health services and also with the Aga Khan University for the treatment of hepatitis B and C, initially in three districts of Sindh, including Larkana, Shikarpur and Shaheed Benazirabad, he said. Sindh Health Secretary further said contaminated water was the main source of gastrointestinal diseases, including diarrhoea and hepatitis. He called for adopting preventive measures against these water-borne diseases. He said such conference could help in creating awareness among masses about consumption of clean drinking water.
Eminent healthcare professional and managing director of Liaquat National Hospital (LNH) Prof Dr Salman Faridi said errors occur in every profession because of lack of an effective monitoring system. He said mistakes were even committed by journalists, judges, lawyers and economists but only the errors of medical professionals were highlighted.
"Medical profession is also part of society hence it too reflects overall situation of our society," he said, adding that not only doctors but people from all segments of society should follow code of ethics. He said mistakes are made by everybody but pointing fingers and witch-hunt is not the solution to any problem. Dr Faridi also spoke on advancements in the medical sciences and termed intestine as the second brain in the human body where micro-organisms are responsible for most of the disease and also play a role in cure. He said provision of primary healthcare is the main issue of people of Pakistan, who had no access to clean drinking water and basic health facilities near their abodes.
Renowned gastroenterologist Prof Waseem Jafri discussed continuous training of gastroenterologists. He said they could utilise best available medical interventions to the people and avoid committing mistakes after having been trained.
PGLDS president Dr Sajjad Jamil said they had begun journey as a small group to train young doctors and now their group had become a national society being acclaimed internationally. He noted that young physicians as well as mid-career doctors were joining them to learn advancements in the field of gastroenterology and hepatology. Dr Nazish Butt, vice president of the PGLDS said their society was striving for screening and treatment of the hepatitis B and C patients in the peripheries of the city for quite some time and offered their services to the government as well. He said they could help the authorities achieve the global target of hepatitis C eradication by 2030.
Dr Lubna Kamani and Dr Shahid Ahmed spoke on different advancements in the diagnosis, treatment and management of the hepatitis B and C. Experts from different cities of the country and abroad discussed stomach ailments, including ulcer, GERD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), obesity, water-borne diseases. They advised people to adopt healthy lifestyle, eat healthy and balanced diet and exercise regularly to prevent themselves from many preventable diseases.
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