It said the Covid-19 pandemic had tested the country’s health infrastructure and identified needs for more investment in the sector, especially to improve diagnostic facilities, disease surveillance, prevention and spread, training of health personnel and their protection from pandemic, vaccine development, upgrading healthcare infrastructure, emergency rooms, intensive care units, isolation wards and public awareness, reports Dawn News.

Life expectancy increased from 66.9 years in 2017 to 67.3 years in 2019 but is still behind other countries. The infant mortality rate, maternal mortality and population growth rate have decreased in the last three years, the newspaper reported.

A comparative position of the regional countries in health indicators development shows an abysmal picture as infant mortality rate (IMR), per 1,000 live births, in Pakistan is 55.7, in Afghanistan 46, in India 28, Bangladesh 25, China seven and in Sri Lanka six, reports Dawn News.

The under-five mortality rate shows that in Pakistan 69 deaths are reported in 1,000 children against 60 in Afghanistan, 34 in India, 30 in Bangladesh, 28 in Bhutan and seven each in China and Sri Lanka.

Pakistan is a country which also faced the brunt of the COPVID-19 pandemic spread. in recent months.