Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal inaugurated the third Digitalized Telemedicine Center at Bhambar Tarar on the outskirts of Islamabad, underscoring the government’s push to modernize local healthcare delivery. The new Telemedicine Center aims to bring timely consultations and basic treatment to a community that previously had no resident doctor and faced hour‑long journeys to tertiary hospitals in Islamabad.
The minister said the government is following through on commitments by integrating telemedicine as a permanent part of the national health system. He noted that an agreement with Sehat Kahani will connect communities to 5,000 online doctors, and that physicians based abroad, including in Qatar, are already consulting patients remotely through existing telemedicine sites in Karachi.
Telemedicine Center services in Bhambar Tarar will allow routine cases to be managed locally while ensuring that complicated or severe conditions are referred to tertiary hospitals. Mustafa Kamal highlighted that nearly 70 percent of patients can be treated at the primary care level, and that expanding telemedicine helps relieve pressure on overcrowded major hospitals.
The Bhambar Tarar facility repurposes an existing Basic Health Unit building that until now had no posted doctor. By enabling consultations through the Telemedicine Center, residents will receive medical attention within their community, reducing travel time and improving access to care for women, children and the elderly.
The minister also emphasized how telemedicine opens opportunities for qualified female doctors who could not continue traditional practice after marriage to provide services from home. He recalled the promise to establish 10 such centers nationwide, noting the first Digital Health Center opened in Gokina on January 6 and the second in Karachi, with Bhambar Tarar now marking the third operational site.
Mustafa Kamal described telemedicine as an effective and indispensable solution for remote and underserved areas and said the Ministry of Health will continue to deploy technology to bring healthcare closer to communities as part of a people‑centric approach.
