Mustafa Kamal announces National Steering Committee to strengthen disease surveillance, health research system

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Jun, 2026) Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Mustafa Kamal on Thursday said the government was strengthening the country's health research and disease surveillance framework through the establishment of a National Steering Committee to oversee the National Disease Registry System and improve the use of health data for policymaking.

The minister made these remarks during a meeting with a delegation of the Health Research Advisory Board, which included the board's General Secretary and Finance Secretary. The meeting reviewed measures aimed at strengthening health research systems and promoting effective disease surveillance across the country.

Mustafa Kamal said the government was integrating health statistics at the national level to support evidence-based policymaking. He added that the National Steering Committee would help improve transparency and efficiency in health governance and support better healthcare services through digital health data.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of National Health Services said a formal notification had been issued for the establishment of the committee.

According to the notification, the 15-member committee will comprise federal and provincial health officials, researchers, health experts and representatives of development partners. The Federal Health Minister will serve as Patron-in-Chief, while the Health Secretary will act as Chairman of the committee.

The Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute of Health (NIH) has been appointed Convener and Secretary of the committee.

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Representatives from all provinces, Islamabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan will also be part of the body.

The founding directors of the Pakistan Diabetes Registry and the Pakistan Cardiac Registry have also been included in the committee.

The Terms of Reference (ToRs) issued with the notification assign the committee responsibility for developing recommendations on the vision, scope and phased expansion of the national disease registry system.

The committee will provide policy guidance to align disease registries with national health and research priorities and will oversee the development of a data governance framework covering data ownership, access, sharing and protection.

It will also monitor compliance of the registry system with national laws, regulations and ethical requirements, while overseeing efforts to link registry data with national health information and decision-making systems.

The committee will support evidence-based policymaking through integrated health data and will have the authority to approve the use of national-level data for research and scientific publications.

Its responsibilities will also include promoting coordination, partnerships and resource-sharing among federal, provincial and private-sector institutions, reviewing the performance and progress of the registry system, and supervising the transfer of databases, source codes and hosting infrastructure to the NIH.

The National Institute of Health will serve as the committee's secretariat and will also be responsible for implementing its decisions.