LAHORE: Prof. Shahzad Ali Khan an eminent Pubic Health expert, Vice Chancellor of Health Services Academy Islamabad was one of the invited guest speakers at the First Rare and Genetic Diseases Summit 2025 organized by Society for Novel and Rare Diseases (SNARE) here from September 4th to 6th 2025. Instead of complaining about shortage of resources and lack of support from government, he called upon his professional colleagues to Stay Positive and Promote Hope. We had very little grant from the federal government for the Health Services Academy but we were able to generate funding and win grants worth millions of rupees based on our work. Let us stop complaining but move forward, work with devotion and dedication, promote research work and win financial grants from overseas. We have done this and you all can do this, he remarked.
Prof. Shahzad Ali Khan
Sharing the health statistics of Pakistan, he pointed out that we have the highest neonatal mortality. We have ninety-six lac pregnancies annually, sixty-five lac deliveries and twenty-two lac abortions. The number of unplanned pregnancies is estimated to be thirty-six lacs. Population growth in Pakistan is a serious concern and if we fail to check this high fertility rate, we will never be able to provide healthcare to the entire population. Consangeous marriages is an important issue. We need Advocacy groups, create awareness about health issues including the rare and genetic disorders. We have prepared a training manual for our Basic Health Units. Our priorities No. 1 should be training followed by Research and Policy development. Health Services Academy Islamabad, he stated, will be too glad to host the next Rare and Genetic Diseases Summit. He also briefly talked about the identification of diseased genes and replacing it with new healthy Genes. Let us all share our success stories if any and keep on doing the good work, he concluded.
