Pakistan Digital Authority (PDA) Chairperson Dr. Sohail Munir has highlighted key digital reforms needed in the health sector, with stronger primary care and unified health records identified as critical priorities for improving healthcare delivery across the country. Speaking in a Chatroom conversation with Shizza Hashmi, Dr. Sohail Munir explained that the heavy burden placed on tertiary healthcare centres remains one of the major challenges facing the health system. He said digital transformation can play an important role in strengthening primary care services, allowing more health needs to be addressed earlier and reducing unnecessary pressure on major hospitals.
Dr. Sohail Munir also highlighted the challenges created by fragmented health records, particularly during emergency situations. When a patient arrives at a hospital and medical staff cannot access their previous health information, critical decisions may be delayed or made without access to relevant medical history. Unified health records can help address this gap by allowing authorized healthcare providers to access relevant patient information when needed. According to PDA, WASL, the National Data Exchange Layer, is a key component in making such interconnected health records possible by enabling trusted data exchange between different systems and institutions.
PDA is currently developing the Digital Health Sectoral Plan under the National Digital Masterplan, with consultations already taking place across several cities. The process involves engagement with people responsible for operating and managing health systems, allowing the plan to focus on practical requirements and challenges faced by healthcare institutions. The authority is placing particular emphasis on creating an interoperable health data ecosystem in which different healthcare systems can exchange information through trusted digital infrastructure. Such interoperability is important because healthcare information often exists across separate institutions and platforms, making it difficult to provide a complete picture of a patient’s medical history when services are delivered at different points in the healthcare system.
The digital health plan is therefore being shaped around two interconnected priorities: improving the role of primary care and establishing the infrastructure required for secure and interoperable health data exchange. By strengthening primary healthcare services, authorities aim to reduce unnecessary pressure on tertiary hospitals, while unified records and systems such as WASL can support better access to patient information across participating healthcare facilities. PDA’s ongoing consultations are expected to help identify the systems, data requirements and operational challenges that need to be addressed as Pakistan develops its broader digital health framework under the National Digital Masterplan.
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