KARACHI: Pakistan is among the lowest spenders on health research where many young medical graduates and research enthusiasts fail to conduct research in their areas of interest due to lack of funding or strings attached to availability of research grants from the government and international institutions, experts said on Tuesday.
They said there are many junior researchers and medical students who are doing M Phil and PhD in Pakistan these days and want to do the research work as part of their FCPS trainings but cannot initiate their own research projects because of many factors including a lack of research culture, added that Pakistan’s contribution to research and medical literature is ‘very disappointing’ at the moment.
“In these circumstances, we have launched a research forum in collaboration with a local pharmaceutical company that is comprised of top health experts from Dow University Karachi, NICVD, Aga Khan University, and other universities and medical institutions from Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta as well to provide small research grants to young researchers and promote the research culture in the country”, said Shaukat Ali Jawaid, editor of Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences while speaking at the launch of Pharmevo Research Forum here on Tuesday.
He maintained that despite being a nuclear power and most important country of the Islamic world, Pakistan’s contribution in the field of medical research and literature is unsatisfactory and the main hurdle appears to be the lack of funding and absence of an environment where research is promoted so that local solutions of the local health issues and problems could be found out.
The research initiative, to be known as Pharmevo Research Forum, is an initiative of Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences in collaboration with Clinicians and the local pharmaceutical firm and its objective is to generate and disseminate scientific knowledge among researchers and work for capacity building to influence, lead, and involve researchers in various research projects, he added.
Deputy CEO of the Pharmevo Limited Syed Jamshed Ahmed said their vision is to build a healthier society and to find out new knowledge through research and development.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021