Federal Minister for Health Mustafa Kamal has supported the proposal to create new provinces, saying that establishing additional administrative units could also help address Karachi’s longstanding problems.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the University of Science and Technology in Multan, Kamal said the country’s current administrative structure of one federation and four provinces was no longer effectively meeting its needs.
“We support Mohsin Naqvi’s proposal regarding new provinces. Creating new administrative units can also help resolve Karachi’s problems,” he said.
Kamal said Pakistan was geographically larger than around 180 countries and required more administrative units to improve governance and public service delivery.
Commenting on medicine prices, the health minister said that increasing or reducing drug prices was not solely the responsibility of the federal health minister.
He said the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had deregulated the prices of certain medicines, while decisions regarding price reductions were made by the federal cabinet.
“The cabinet has formed a committee to review and reduce medicine prices,” he added.
Highlighting major public health challenges, Kamal said the country often mourned deaths caused by bomb blasts and terrorism but did not show the same level of concern over preventable deaths linked to inadequate healthcare.
He said around 11,000 mothers die each year, while nearly 400,000 children lose their lives annually due to various diseases.
“These are preventable deaths. Will the parents of these children consider the government successful?” he asked.
The minister said around 11 million people in Pakistan were living with hepatitis C, while one in every three people was affected by diabetes.
He added that one person dies from heart disease every minute and criticised misinformation surrounding vaccination.
“When health workers go to administer vaccines, some people claim that vaccination is a Jewish conspiracy and will destroy future generations,” he said.
