New Administrative Units: Mustafa Kamal says Pakistan’s existing system cannot work

Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal has said the creation of new administrative units has become inevitable, warning that delays in reforming the country’s administrative system will cause further damage.

Speaking at an event organised by the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) on Saturday, Kamal said years of raising concerns about Karachi had convinced him that complaints alone would not bring meaningful change.

“The people of Karachi earn and contribute, yet they still have to beg the federal government for their rights,” he said.

He also claimed that officials in the federal bureaucracy in Islamabad were unhappy with the presence of people from Karachi.

“I honestly believe the existing government system cannot work. The longer we delay the creation of new administrative units, the greater the damage will be,” Kamal said.

The minister added that the issue was now receiving serious attention, which he said had prompted opponents to adopt a stronger tone.

Kamal also discussed reforms introduced by his ministry in the pharmaceutical sector. He said pharmaceutical companies had previously faced demands for large bribes to register medicines with the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).

Under the new system, he said, documents were processed automatically, reducing the scope for manual intervention.

He added that barcodes had been introduced for 86,000 branded products manufactured by 650 pharmaceutical companies. The health ministry’s database now contains information on 86,000 medicines, according to the minister.