Press Release
Health is where citizens feel digital transformation most directly, and where disconnected systems cost them most.
That framed the conversation at PDA Headquarters, where Syed Mustafa Kamal, Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, called on Dr. Sohail Munir, Chairperson, PDA, and Aamer Rana, Member, PDA. The discussion covered the digitisation of the institutional machinery of the health sector alongside citizen-facing services.
The following priority areas were identified for accelerating digital transformation across Pakistan's healthcare sector:
- Developing Unified Medical Records for citizens nationwide.
- Digitising the nursing councils.
- Establishing a centralised complaint management system with clear escalation mechanisms.
- Automating inspection processes across subsidiary bodies.
- Strengthening referral mechanisms across the health system.
Both sides also examined the potential of Telehealth to deliver qualified medical advice to citizens where they live, rather than requiring them to travel to reach it. For citizens in remote districts, digital health means qualified advice no longer depends on proximity to a tertiary hospital.
The meeting reviewed the completion of the first round of multi-stakeholder workshops, which the Pakistan Digital Authority is convening in collaboration with the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (MoNHSR&C) to bring the provinces into the Digital Sectoral Plan for Healthcare. The workshops identified the core programmes and priorities for a more inclusive and integrated model of healthcare delivery.
Digital health is not one intervention. It is what happens when registration, referral, redress and access stop working in isolation from one another: a referral that arrives before the patient does, a complaint that has somewhere definite to go, and qualified advice that reaches a district without a specialist. Both sides agreed to carry that work forward through technology-enabled solutions across the health sector.