Kenya and Pakistan have agreed to collaborate closely to bridge the divide in healthcare between the two countries. On Thursday, Kenya’s Secretary of Health, Mutahi Kagwe, and Pakistani High Commissioner to Kenya, Syeda Saqlain, committed to examining present collaborations to enhance healthcare outcomes for Kenyans and Pakistanis.
According to the Secretary of Health, an intricate and organised relationship is needed because earlier agreements between Kenya and Pakistan have not yielded the expected outcomes.
“We’ve had a lot of health-related debates, but I don’t think we’ve made much progress.” The health CS stated that “diplomatic interactions and collaborations should be backed by action.”
He stated that Kenya remains committed to working with Pakistan to increase healthcare access, affordability, and quality following the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) objective.
“We’re attempting to reduce the cost of healthcare products. It’s critical to register medications quickly at pharmacies & poison control centres. What we need to know is how to determine which medications are effective. It had to be drugs used in Pakistan,” CS reasoned.
Kenya is interested in raising digital interconnections among hospitals and medical staff, according to the CS, citing a relationship involving Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral, & Research Hospital, the Christie Foundation, and the University of Manchester.
“It’s why we’re interested in exchange programs so that we’ll have tech-enabled treatments in the long term, such as surgery.” That is a key aspect of the strategy we are building on for us,” the CS explained.
The High Commissioner from Pakistan, Syeda Saqlain, said during the meeting that her nation is willing to assist Kenya with personnel and technical resources in its ongoing order to upgrade the healthcare system in the country.
“We can cooperate on specialist physician and doctor exchanges and e-health. We’re also interested in introducing Pakistani goods to Kenya. Our pharmaceutical manufacturing business is heavily funded by the government, and it produces a large number of generic drugs, thereby lowering the cost of purchasing them.” Syeda stated.