ISLAMABAD: Within the next two years, Pakistan will have at least one laboratory that is up to international standards so that in case of an outbreak, samples will not have to be sent elsewhere for testing, said Minister for National Health Services (NHS) Saira Afzal Tarar on Thursday.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the National Strategic Framework for AntiMicrobial Resistance (AMR) at a conference on internationalhealth regulation, the minister said the nation`s immunity level is decreasing due to which a sudden outbreak of any disease is very possible during the coming decade, and a lacl< of proper laboratories will make identifying the disease problematic.

Ithas been observedthat bacteria can adapt itself according to the medicines being taken and can create resistance against them.

In the past, bacteria could be killed with low potency medicines when higher potency medicines are now required to kill the same bacteria.

This is due to AMR, which has emerged as one of the most serious public health problems and which the WHO has termed the `greatest threat to human health`.

Talking to Dawn, the NHS minister said that Pakistan currently has a Bio Safety Level (BSL) III laboratory at the National Institute of Health, which needs to be upgraded to BSL IV so that all samples can be tested in the country.

`When we had an outbreak of Ebola two years ago, we had to send samples to different countries to have them tested. Now we have requested international stakeholders to support Pakistan in the up gradation of the laboratory. We also want to establish a quality laboratory in Balochistan,` she said.

The minister added that key technical areas will be identified in the conference and that at present, three areas including prevention, detection and response in case of an outbreak are being focused on.