Health,nutrition must be at top priority on national development agendas: Speakers.

ISLAMABAD -- Speakers at an inauguration of a two-day training course on health and hospital management commenced at COMSTECH on Tuesday said that health and nutrition must be at the top priority on national development agendas in order to cope with the future pandemics and health emergencies.

Representative of the World Health Organization in Pakistan, Dr. Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala was the chief guest of the inauguration session.

Speaking on the occasion, he said health system management was important, we needed to have disciplined health sector management, curriculum and trained personnel to manage the health sector.

He suggested that health sector managers should manage in an effective and efficient way by looking at the resources available.

The world is in transition: demographic, lifestyle, and economic transition, which warrants us to manage health systems well in compliance with the changing world,he said.

Dr. Mahipala appreciated the response and management of COVID by the government of Pakistan and said it was unified, outstanding and unique and many countries can learn from that. He informed that coordination and governance, science and epidemiology and communication are the three pillars to respond to any emergency effectively.

Going to hospital is riskier than climbing Mount Everest. He mentioned that people go to hospital to get treatment of one disease and unfortunately come back home with another infection, Dr. Mahipala said.

He stressed that patient safety and equity was most important and said when it came to healthcare delivery we needed to talk and care about it.

The keynote speaker of the session, Professor and Executive Director, Institute of Global Public Health, University of Manitoba, Canada, Dr. James Blanchard said that academic institutions were doing more in research and training but not necessarily thinking about the vital role of leadership in the public health system.

He said it was important to think about the importance and strengthening of health systems which was going to be the critical aspect of the success and challenges for sustainable development goals (SDGs).

He said to achieve SDGs health goals, access, quality and utilization of key health services were essential.

Dr. James said that to achieve greater equity, clinical services...