PESHAWAR: The World Health Organisation has urged Pakistan to incorporate family medicine into the primary healthcare services and ensure availability of three family physicians for a population of 10,000 by 2030 in line with the United Nations` Sustainable Development Goals.

Addressing the two-day international conference on family medicine organised by the Khyber Medical University here on Tuesday, WHO country representative Dr Mohammad Assai said Pakistan was highly committed to reaching theSustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

He said he hoped that in light of the resolution of the 63rd session of the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Committee, Pakistan would incorporate family medicine into primary healthcare for the betterment of the people.

He said the strategy was meant to strengthen public-private partnerships in service delivery and availability of sustainable funding for programme.

KMU vice-chancellor-designate Prof Arshad Javed said family physicians played a vital role in the recognition of signs and symptoms of a disease making initial diagnosis and planningappropriateintervention.

Prof Arshad Javed said that FM was a medical specialty concerned with providing comprehensive care to individuals and families and integrating biomedical, behavioral, and social science and academic medical disciplines, including comprehensive healthcare services, education and research.

He said the federal and provincial governments had launched social health protection initiatives to benefit the people.

Prof Arshad said he hoped that a postgraduate diploma in family medicine would provide a broader platform to general practitioners to become mem-bers of the family physicians` community.

Acting KMU VC Prof Saleem Gandapur said family medicine was one of the primary medical care specialties and that it was the first contact with patients and served as an entry point for patients into the health care system.

He said the family physicians played a vital role in the recognition of the symptoms and signs of a disease making possible the initial diagnosis, appropriate intervention and plan for action on theirnrstcontact.

Representative of the federal DG (health) Dr Mohammad Malik Safi said Pakistan didn`t have an organised system ofpostgraduate training or certification to prepare physicians to address the basic primary health care needs of communities in both urban and rural areas.

He said the launch of a FM diploma programme at the KMU would improve the medical care of community through improving and updating of the knowledge and skills of family physicians.

The representatives of the federal director general (health) and provincial, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir health departments, and nationwide medical experts and family physicians also attended the event.