Pakistan must focus on prevention to reduce disease burden: Mustafa Kamal

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th May, 2026) Federal Minister for National Health Services Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday said Pakistan could not overcome its growing disease burden without prioritising prevention, screening, clean water and public health awareness.

Responding to questions during Question Hour in the National Assembly, the minister said the federal health ministry had limited financial resources as most funds under the constitutional arrangement were transferred to provinces, which also held Primary authority over the health sector.

He said Pakistan currently ranked among the countries most affected by Hepatitis C, adding that nearly 11 million people in the country were living with the disease, while around 80 percent remained unaware of their condition due to a lack of screening.

The minister said the government had launched a nationwide free Hepatitis C screening and treatment programme under the initiative of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

He said the programme had been formally launched from Islamabad with 12 screening centres, while the number of centres would be expanded to 1,000 across the country within one year in collaboration with provinces.

Mustafa Kamal said the programme carried an estimated cost of Rs 67 billion, adding that the government would bear all expenses of screening tests and medicines for patients diagnosed with Hepatitis C.

He said a single screening test cost around Rs 7,000, while medicines for a patient cost approximately Rs 34,000, but citizens would not have to pay anything.

The minister warned that delayed diagnosis of Hepatitis C was contributing to rising cases of liver cancer and stressed that prevention and early screening were essential to reducing deaths and long-term health complications.

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Referring to thalassemia, he appreciated lawmakers for supporting legislation related to screening of couples before marriage, saying preventive screening could help reduce the number of children born with major thalassemia.

He said many countries had successfully controlled the disease through mandatory screening programmes for couples.

The minister said Pakistan’s healthcare system was overburdened because the country had effectively become a “factory producing patients,” where hospitals were overcrowded while insufficient attention was being given to preventive healthcare.

He said healthcare should begin outside hospital walls through birth spacing, vaccination, access to clean drinking water and improved sanitation systems.

Mustafa Kamal said Pakistan witnessed around 6.13 million births annually, adding that rapid population growth and lack of proper sanitation were worsening health challenges.

He lamented that untreated sewage from Gilgit-Baltistan to Karachi was contaminating drinking water sources, contributing to the spread of water-borne diseases.

The minister said nearly 68 percent of diseases in Pakistan were linked to contaminated water and stressed that the entire society, including government institutions, parliamentarians and citizens, needed to collectively play their role in addressing the crisis.

He also informed the House that the ministry’s communicable diseases unit was working on tuberculosis, HIV and malaria programmes with the support of international partners, including the Global Fund.

APP/tsw-sra