Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the construction of an internationally standardized health tower in the federal capital. This facility will encompass hospitals, medical and nursing universities, modern laboratories, and diagnostic centers. Chairing a meeting to review the Ministry of National Health Services’ affairs, the prime minister emphasized creating a strategy for building the tower through a public-private partnership.
Acknowledging the health sector’s crucial role in saving lives, Prime Minister Sharif voiced concerns over newly reported polio cases and committed to eradicating the disease by leveraging all available resources in collaboration with partners.
He also mandated a third-party audit of the laboratories under the Ministry of National Health Services and called for the appointment of highly qualified health professionals within the ministry and its affiliated departments. The prime minister pledged to personally oversee health-related issues and ordered a third-party audit of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan. He also instructed the separation of drug processing functions from the Authority.
Additionally, Prime Minister Sharif directed the outsourcing of human resources and waste treatment plants of all government hospitals in Islamabad. He also mandated an audit of nursing schools and colleges across the country.
During the briefing, it was announced that a National Blood Transfusion and Blood Products Policy would soon be introduced, with a nursing and midwifery policy framework nearing completion. An evening shift is being implemented in nursing colleges to increase the number of graduates. Furthermore, work on a revised National Action Plan 2025-30 to control population growth has begun.
Upon learning about the installation of new health equipment worth Rs 711 million in Islamabad’s hospitals, the prime minister called for a third-party audit of the equipment’s purchase. A modern hospital management system will be installed in Islamabad’s hospitals, and waste management plants are operational in five public and four private sector hospitals in the capital.
The meeting also covered the formulation of a strategy for domestic insulin manufacturing and plans to produce various vaccines, establish plasma fractionation centers and a pharma park, and provide machinery and equipment to tertiary care hospitals in Quetta.
Additionally, a 50-bed hospital is to be established in Musakhel, along with a tertiary care and Tehsil headquarters hospital in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and an Institute of Medical Sciences and Daanish Hospital in Gilgit Baltistan.
The meeting was attended by Federal Ministers Ahsan Iqbal and Ahad Khan Cheema, PM’s Coordinators Malik Mukhtar Ahmed and Rana Ehsan Afzal, and other senior officials.
