Federal Minister for Health Syed Mustafa Kamal has revealed that DNA testing of victims’ remains could not be conducted for five days after the Gul Plaza tragedy, prompting federal government intervention.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a digitalized federal dispensary in Karachi’s FC Area, the minister stressed the need to establish DNA laboratories in every province to effectively handle major emergencies and disasters.
Under the Healthcare Digitalization Program, federal primary healthcare facilities are being upgraded with modern technology. As part of this initiative, Syed Mustafa Kamal inaugurated Karachi’s third digitalized federal dispensary in the FC Area. The facility has been established through a collaboration between Sehat Kahani and the Federal Ministry of Health and is the sixth dispensary under the Sehat Kahani network across Pakistan.
Addressing the ceremony, Sehat Kahani CEO Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram said that Sehat Kahani is a telemedicine organization that has been upgraded with the support of the federal health minister. She noted that dispensaries at Karachi Airport and Jacob Lines had already been modernized, where patients are provided medical consultations along with free medicines.
In his address, the federal health minister said it was a positive development that an old dispensary under the Ministry of Health had been equipped with modern facilities. He added that ten such digitalized dispensaries are being developed nationwide, including six in Islamabad and four in Karachi.
The minister also informed that the National Institute of Health (NIH) had issued an alert regarding the Nipah virus four days ago, advising the public to adopt precautionary measures. However, he assured that Pakistan remains safe from the virus so far.
Syed Mustafa Kamal emphasized that while major accidents, transplants, and complex surgeries are handled at large hospitals, around 70 to 80 percent of healthcare needs can be met through primary and secondary healthcare centers. He stressed the importance of taking practical steps based on findings from past incidents to prevent future tragedies, rather than waiting for another disaster to occur.
