WHO urges Pakistan to increase work force in health sector

WHO urges Pakistan to increase work force in health sector

LAHORE: The World Health Organisation (WHO)’s official for Pakistan, Dr Palitha Mahipala, states that the country is under a human resource for health (HRH) crisis. The resources in this sector meet only one-10th of Pakistan’s requirement.

Dr Palitha visited the University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore and said that Pakistan needs 200,000 nurses in their workforce for the health sector. He urged the government of Pakistan to take the necessary steps in order to achieve the WHO standards. “No healthcare system can deliver quality care without the input of trained, committed professionals, including quality doctors and nurses”, he said.

The WHO official stated said that UHS, being a renowned institution, can enhance their primary health care by their strengthening family medicine department.

He advised the university to devise a five-year plan for the development of its programmes and provided the assurance of WHO’s support.

In response to this, UHS Vice Chancellor, Prof Ahsan Waheed Rathore said that 110 postgraduate and 26 undergraduate programmes were being currently taught at the UHS. He admitted that the country is in fact facing a shortage of nurses and core health professionals and the university was playing is role to succumb the issue. He mentioned that the institution shall be launching undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the relevant disciplines. 

WHO Punjab Head Dr Jamshed Ahmed, UHS Registrar Dr Asad Zaheer, and senior faculty members were present during the meeting. On this occasion, Dr Mahipala was appointed as an adjunct faculty member of the university.