In a meeting with President-elect of Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) Dr. Naheed Usmani, who called on him at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, he called for special focus on preventive healthcare, terming it more cost-efficient than curative healthcare, a President House statement.

He said that enhancing primary healthcare could also help lessen the burden on secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities.

Appreciating the services of APPNA members for teaching young doctors, the president said that Pakistan valued its services in helping needy Pakistani medical students through Scholarship Endowment.

He also stressed the need for further strengthening APPNA educational initiatives in Pakistan.

The shortage of universities must be compensated by enhancing the dissemination of purposefully structured online courses and by improving their acceptability at educational institutions, he added.

Dr. Naheed Usmani said there was need of effective collaboration among APPNA, USAID, HEC, and PMDC to fully utilize the emerging opportunities.

The president extended his best wishes to APPNA for its future endeavours.