Pakistanis come to India for liver transplants," said Latif, "Pakistan can also offer god ART and infertility treatment facilities to Indians.
Information sharing, student exchanges for medical education, joint research projects, improved trade ties; health professionals from India and Pakistan said these were just some issues they needed to collaborate with each other on. Amidst political conflict and diplomatic spats between the two countries, those working in the health sector from both sides of the border met in New Delhi, Wednesday, to thrash out how to take forward health ties in the current fraught scenario.
"We have similar genetic profiles, similar health problems and yet we rely on data from the west," said Javed Akram, Vice Chancellor, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, calling for a collaboration on "medical education and research". The point for strongly put forward by Dr. Rashid Latif Khan, of the Hameed Latif Hospital, Lahore, who said that the countries should have student exchange programmes.
"Pakistanis come to India for liver transplants," said Latif, "Pakistan can also offer god ART and infertility treatment facilities to Indians."
Pakistanis mostly come to India for liver and kidney transplant, cardiology and infertility treatments, according to Nisha Taneja, Professor at the Indian Council for Research on international Economic Relations, that jointly organised the meeting with Islamabad's Sustainable Development Policy Institute. They come mostly through joint camps, India's medical tourism facilities, tie ups between private hospitals and NGOs. However, such patients, and even doctors coming to India, often face visa problems.
Akram called for a deeper involvement of the SAARC framework, saying that a SAARC visa would bypass visa problems between the two countries. In the upcoming 19th SAARC meet to be hosted by Pakistan, a medical board is to be set up, hosted by Akram's institute.
Both sides expressed a strong need to bolster trade ties. India's giant pharmaceutical sector and Pakistan's surgical instruments and medical devices could be of use to both countries. Pakistan exports devices across the world in large numbers, except to India. Meanwhile, several drugs are cheaper in Pakistan when imported from India, and Pakistan already looks to India for large quantities of raw material.
Said Taneja, Current exports from India are $213 million whereas potential is $650 million. Existing export to India is $11 million whereas potential export is $321 million. The numbers in informal trade are much higher, but lead to spurious quality drugs ending up in Pakistan. Hence the need to strengthen formal trade ties in the sector, for the benefit of both countries.
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