Conference On Primary Healthcare Concludes At Rawalpindi Medical University

The two-day conference on family medicine entitled "Building Primary Care Capacity

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Mar, 2020 ) :The two-day conference on family medicine entitled "Building Primary Care Capacity: Pakistan's Critical Need" organised by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in collaboration with the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) and Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) concluded on Thursday.

Addressing the closing ceremony, Vice Chancellor RMU, Prof. Muhammad Umar said the conference gave voice to the stakeholders and generated a healthy dialogue on family medicine.

He said the recommendations of the experts would be presented to the policy makers for implementation and strengthen the primary healthcare system.

Prof. Umar said the conference would prove a launching pad for the uplift of the overall healthcare system in the country.

He said that the policy framework and the training model for Family Medicine proposed in the conference would prove a guiding pathway for the future.

He thanked the HEC for its remarkable role in promoting Family Medicine Education and for its tireless efforts to make the conference successful on such a crucial topic.

The conference also provided platform to develop a framework for long-term relationship between Pakistani institutions and international faculty through APPNA, which represented 18,000 physicians working in various medical disciplines including Family Practice in the United States and Canada.

The conference covered a large number of subjects and topics pivotal for the development of healthcare system, including Family Medicine Policy Framework, Career Planning, Family Medical Curriculum and Training Models, Healthcare Systems and Role of Technology, Preventive Care in Family Medicine, Public-Private Partnerships and Strengthening Nursing Care.

A large number of local and foreign medical practitioners, medical providers, educators, administrators, and policy makers attended the conference, where the experts shared their views about the actionable items needed to enhance life expectancy and health outcomes in the country.

Panel discussions and working groups also discussed ways to foster training programmes and improve policies for comprehensive development of Family Medicine, while promoting investment in public health and healthcare systems.

The conference was also consistent with the steps taken recently by the HEC to enhance the quality and relevance of the system of education in the country.

APPNA experts including Family Medicine faculty from the US/Canada training programmes and the Residency programme directors presented the curriculum and structure of Family Medicine training in US and Canada and participate in design workshops to help Pakistan's participating teaching institutions develop primary care training.

Besides, participants from Pakistan including Vice Chancellors and faculty members of medical universities and colleges, leaders from Federal and provincial health ministries, representatives of regulatory bodies, and other stakeholders shed light on the Family Medicine programmes already established in Pakistan in order to bring improvement in them.