Prof. Faridah Amin
Director & Principal, Indus College of Family Medicine and Public Health
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A robust and efficient primary healthcare system is crucial to achieving universal health coverage goals and better health outcomes. In a developing country with limited resources, a focus on preventing disease, promoting well-being and providing quality basic health care to the individuals, community and population is the key to an overall effective healthcare system. This requires a well-knitted network of doctors, nurses, medicine and allied, community and public health professionals, who can work collaboratively to enhance the quality of primary healthcare. Integrated primary care services need skillful and a competent team of healthcare professionals who are able to work within their own expertise with compassion; facilitating and enabling other allied healthcare professionals. Indus Hospital and Health Network is a leader in primary healthcare in Pakistan for more than a decade, with its unique and inclusive approach towards an integrated health care in the country. It functions through a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals, comprising of clinicians (consultants and specialists), allied health (nurses and midwives), public and community health experts (lady/community health workers, mental health professionals, nutritionists etc). This inter-professional team works collaboratively through public-private partnerships, striving to impart acceptable, affordable, accessible and high-quality community oriented primary healthcare. The Indus College of Family Medicine and Public Health provides a platform for education and training of these healthcare professionals to produce leaders and experts among them. These professionals will be able to work collaboratively and play a leadership role in organizing teams, polishing their own strengths while enhancing the output of other professionals to provide preventive, diagnostic, curative and rehabilitative health care services to the communities. Moreover, these professionals will be trained for primary care research to understand population health dynamics and measure impact of clinical and non-clinical interventions, hence systematically improve quality of primary health care which is a critical need of any developing country.