Islamabad:Federal Minister for Health Syed Mustafa Kamal has said that promoting lifestyle medicine and preventive healthcare was essential to reduce the growing burden of diseases and ease pressure on Pakistan’s healthcare system.
Addressing an International Conference on Lifestyle Medicine here Tuesday, the minister said that health was not only an administrative concern but also a national security and economic issue, as the rising burden of diseases was placing increasing pressure on healthcare services.
He said that addressing the causes of diseases was essential, adding that simply building more hospitals and producing more doctors and healthcare workers could not provide a sustainable solution to the growing health challenges.
Mustafa Kamal said that Pakistan’s rapidly growing population would further increase demand for healthcare facilities in the future, making it difficult to provide additional hospitals, doctors and medical staff for every disease.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic had demonstrated how a sudden increase in the number of patients could put even the healthcare systems of developed countries under severe pressure.
The minister stressed that greater emphasis should therefore be placed on disease prevention, health promotion and encouraging people to adopt healthier lifestyles.
He said measures were being taken at the national level to promote lifestyle medicine and integrate the discipline into Pakistan’s healthcare system.
Work on including a lifestyle medicine course in the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) curriculum and formation of a relevant committee had also been completed, he added.
Mustafa Kamal said healthcare should focus not only on treating diseases but also on preventing them and promoting healthier living. Improving lifestyles could help reduce the burden of diseases and contribute to a healthier society.
He said that public awareness about healthy lifestyles was essential and called for greater efforts to make preventive healthcare and lifestyle medicine accessible to people across the country.
The minister also emphasized the importance of adopting a healthy and balanced way of life, saying that health should be viewed as an integral part of a person’s overall way of living.