The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday highlighted the need for the OIC member States to take immediate and decisive measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at the extraordinary meeting of OIC Steering Committee on Health on COVID-19, Secretary General Dr Yousef A Al-Othaimeen expressed OIC’s readiness to utilize its available resources to help the peoples of the Muslim world in these difficult times, and expressed appreciation to the Islamic Development Bank and the Islamic Solidarity Fund for their initiatives.
An emergency virtual meeting of the OIC Steering Committee on Health (SCH) at the health ministers-level was held to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, a Foreign Office press release issued here said. The meeting was attended by ministers of health and representatives from OIC-SCH member states, heads/representatives of OIC institutions/organs, including president of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB Group), and a number of international organizations. Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza represented Pakistan in the conference.
Speaking on the occasion, Mirza stated that the COVID-19 pandemic poses an unprecedented challenge to humanity, which requires a collective international response. Highlighting Pakistan’s efforts, he underscored that the country has been actively engaged in containing the pandemic from its outset by taking several preventive measures. He said that planning and coordination efforts are being led by Prime Minister Imran Khan himself. To ensure a unified national response, a robust institutional mechanism has been set up under the National Security Committee (NSC) and National Coordination Committee (NCC). The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) is the implementation arm of the NCC. Necessary lockdown measures including closing of schools, banning public gatherings are also put in place. The impact of these efforts is enormous as Pakistan is still in the containment phase.
The prime minister has announced a relief package of US$ 7.5b for the vulnerable groups, he highlighted.
Dr Mirza termed the pandemic both as a challenge and an opportunity for introspection, especially on healthcare spending and emergency preparedness. Emphasizing the importance of health security as a key component of national security, he underlined the need to develop health regulations at international level and a legal framework at national level to enhance investment in healthcare security infrastructure. He emphasized that OIC should strengthen its capacity to cope with this unprecedented challenge by exploiting comparative advantage of member states in the development of pharmaceutical products, vaccines and PPE. He also highlighted Pakistan’s comparative advantage in the healthcare sector. He assured the General Secretariat and OIC member states of Pakistan’s full cooperation in combating the pandemic.
A joint statement was also issued at the end of the virtual meeting which, inter alia, called on the OIC countries to exchange more information, experiences and capabilities to combat COVID-19 pandemic.
Pakistan is a member of the OIC-SCH. Other members include Saudi Arabia, UAE, Maldives, Mauritania, Chad, Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia and Sudan.