Shehbaz calls for bridging global inequalities in health sector

RIYADH: Terming the global inequity in health sector “the first and foremost problem”, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday called upon the World Economic Forum (WEF) for bridging the widening gap between the Global South and the Global North.

Speaking at the WEF’s session on global health agenda in Riyadh, PM Shehbaz spoke about the time he was struck with a “nasty cancer”.

“I was struck by a very nasty cancer, ‘Adenocarcinoid’, and I was flown to New York. At that time I had to pay thousands of dollars from my pocket and I wondered how many people in my country could afford this kind of expensive treatment and I said ‘not very many’.”

Speaking about the issue of global healthcare inequities, he said Covid-19 exposed these imbalances and gaps hugely. “Imagine global north and south, distribution of vaccines and so on and so forth,” he added.

The Prime Minister then talked about the issues faced by Pakistan including climate change, which he said completely changed the landscape.

“Pakistan does not contribute even a fraction of emissions yet we are on the red list for climate change and in 2022, we experienced the worst climate change floods in Pakistan,” he said, adding: “Everything was devastated from hospitals to schools to land and agriculture and we had to invest hundreds of billions of rupees to rehabilitate people.”

PM Shehbaz said for the rehabilitation efforts, they sought costly loans. “Can a developing country like Pakistan afford it?” he questioned and observed that for provision of health facilities, a developing country like Pakistan required resources.

“The yawning gap between the Global South and Global North should be bridged,” he emphasised.He further said as a chief minister of Punjab, he had provided about 130 million inhabitants of the province with best medical treatment initiatives like screening and treatment facility for hepatitis in the remotest and backward areas of the province where the poor people had been in dire need of basic facilities like education and health.

He said as the former chief minister, he also established the first kidney and liver hospital in Punjab, which was probably one of the best in Asia where the poor patients were provided with free of cost treatment. About dengue outbreak in 2011 in the province, he shared that the phenomenon in the health sector was one of the biggest in the world. “But we got experts and equipment and with the cooperation of entire government machinery, civil society and common man we launched a massive drive against the dengue larvae,” he said.

“We were able to control the outbreak with collective efforts and meagre resources,” he said, adding it was a test case for the global study in health sector.The Prime Minister, in his remarks, appreciated Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for their support and provision of vaccines for polio eradication drives in Pakistan.

He also acknowledged Bill Gates’ generosity during the 2022 floods to support the affected people of Pakistan.Expressing his views, World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed upon collective efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He shared his concerns over the mortality rates of mothers and children, adding about 54 countries were still far behind in achieving the SDGs targets.Another 4.9 billion people across the globe had no access to basic services, he added.

The WHO DG said the world was vulnerable to any pandemic but they had learnt from the past experiences and building on it.Other participants opined that the conflicts in the world were increasing and impacting the health sector requirements and stressed that resource-rich countries should assist the communities in need. They underlined the need for investing more in the health sector.

During his two-day visit, PM Shehbaz will also meet Emir of Kuwait Mashal Al Ahmed Al Jabr.The Prime Minister, accompanied by Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, is also expected to meet International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, wherein he would exchange views over the prospects and details of the new economic package being sought out by Pakistan.

The forum will provide a key opportunity for Islamabad to showcase its priorities specifically in global health architecture, inclusive growth, revitalising regional collaboration and the need for striking a balance between promoting growth and energy consumption.

The two-day event will see around 1,000 leaders coming together for “a comprehensive dialogue on leveraging global cooperation for economic development, promoting a global energy transition that underpins sustainable development and furthering technological advancement”.

Separately, PM Sharif met Islamic Development Bank (IDB) President Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser on the sidelines of the WEF event.During the meeting, both sides reviewed the progress on various ongoing IDB-funded projects in Pakistan and explored new opportunities for cooperation between Islamabad and the lender.

PM Shehbaz is also expected to meet technology mogul and Microsoft founder Bill Gates along with several Saudi ministers including that of finance, industry and investment.