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Saudi-Pakistan telehealth platform to train 1,500 Afghan doctors with Islamic Development Bank funding

This undated file photo shows an Afghan doctor attending virtual lectures at Shefajo Hospital in Kabul. (Photo courtesy: EDUCAST)
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Updated 10 March 2023
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Saudi-Pakistan telehealth platform to train 1,500 Afghan doctors with Islamic Development Bank funding

  • The Jeddah-based IsDB has approved $180,000 for six online health education centers in Afghanistan
  • Under the initiative, Afghanistan's doctors will also be provided in-person training at Pakistani hospitals
Updated 10 March 2023
KHURSHID AHMED   

KARACHI: EDUCAST, a Saudi-Pakistani virtual training and education platform based in Karachi, is set to train more than 1,500 Afghan doctors under its eDoctors program through financial support of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the EDUCAST CEO said on Thursday.

EDUCAST, a joint venture between overseas Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, was established in 2016 under patronage of Prince Miteb bin Thunayan and Prince Abdul Aziz bin Miteb.  

The Saudi-Pakistani platform through its eDoctors program currently provides tele-health services in Pakistan and Yemen. The program was initiated in 2019 to bring back female doctors who had abandoned the profession due to various reasons, including marriages, with most of them having moved out of Pakistan.  

For Afghanistan operation, the IsDB has approved $180,000 under its technical assistance grant for setting up innovative online health education centers and second-opinion services to Afghan doctors by international experts. 

“EDUCAST has been awarded Grant Assistance from IsDB for carrying out Afghanistan Medical Education uplift program and online specialist opinion services to the Afghan doctors in six Afghan provinces,” Abdullah Butt, founder and CEO of EDUCAST, told Arab News on Thursday.   

Butt informed that after a successful pilot project six months back, the platform was now ready to start its full-fledged operation in Afghanistan.  

“Starting from the current month, we will set up tele-health education and clinical support facilities in six regional hospitals in Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar[i-Sharif] and Khost,” he said. 

The fund provided by the Jeddah-based IsDB will be utilized to enhance capacity of up to 1,500 Afghan doctors by delivering online training, certification and enabling doctor-to-doctor online consultation.  

The platform and the lender are expecting that the program will benefit thousands of patients.   

“The online training program will be followed by in-person training for one or two months in Pakistan’s hospitals in Peshawar, Karachi and Islamabad in key health-related areas of high demand, including maternal and neonatal child health, infectious and non-communicable diseases,” Butt said. 

Under the program, senior healthcare consultants from around the globe will deliver on capacity development of Afghan doctors by conducting virtual seminars. The six regional centers in Afghanistan will also serve in running a basic second opinion from Pakistani health specialists and Afghan doctors abroad, according to Butt.

Pakistani doctors, trained under the eDoctor program and currently living in Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, will be offering their services.

Since 2019, the tele-health platform has enabled around 1,200 doctors to join its network with the support of IsDB. These eDoctors have provided healthcare and counseling to over 4.4 million patients in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh during the COVID-19 pandemic, in collaboration with the Sindh health department and the Dow University of Health Sciences. 

Butt said EDUCAST, for the last one year, has been operating with Shefajo Hospital in Kabul to provide tele-health and online education services to citizens of the Afghan capital.  

“In the IsDB-funded project, the possibility of the provision of healthcare services in Afghanistan was identified as a solution to the adverse impacts of economic and political instability, after the withdrawal of international donor agencies from Afghanistan,” he added.  

Afghanistan, since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, has been facing lack of operational standards and clinical service quality decline, due to less experienced healthcare management and fewer experienced medical practitioners. 

The Afghan doctors currently practicing in the war-torn country lack continuous medical education (CME) training in their relevant fields, which impacts the quality of services being offered, according to the EDUCAST founder.  

“The medical universities in Afghanistan do not offer CME-related programs, so establishing tele-medicine and e-health as national platforms has been suggested to improve overall healthcare service delivery,” Butt said.  

The Saudi-Pakistani tele-health platform is also active in Yemen and providing services to women and children through online doctors sitting in various countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman.

Topics: Educast Educast Society Pakistan Saudi Ties

Pakistan launches ‘Zarkheze’ digital platform to provide loans, advisory services to farmers

Updated 7 sec ago
ISMAIL DILAWAR 
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Pakistan launches ‘Zarkheze’ digital platform to provide loans, advisory services to farmers

  • Pakistan’s agriculture sector accounted for 24 percent of GDP, employed over 37 percent of the nation’s labor force last year
  • The Zarkheze initiative will not only provide financing but it will also improve productivity through quality inputs
Updated 7 sec ago
ISMAIL DILAWAR 

KARACHI: Pakistan has launched ‘Zarkheze,’ a government-backed digital platform, to expand farmers’ access to agricultural financing and advisory services, allowing up to Rs1 million loans through a mobile app as part of efforts to boost productivity and formalize farm lending.

Pakistan’s agriculture sector accounted for 24 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and employed more than 37 percent of the nation’s labor force last year, according to the Economic Survey 2024-25.

The Zarkheze initiative aims to digitize agriculture finance enabling farmers to digitally apply and obtain financing through Zarkheze app. After necessary verifications and agronomic assessments, the application will be submitted to the bank of farmer’s choice for processing, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Seventy-five percent of the financing will be disbursed in kind for the purchase of agri-inputs through pre-approved agri-vendors of banks. Besides financing, farmers will also be provided with agri-advisory services through a Land Information Management System (LIMS).

“The Zarkheze product will thus not only provide financing but will also improve the farmers’ productivity through quality inputs and advisory services,” the SBP and and the Pakistan Banks Association (PBA) said in a joint statement.

“To incentivize the banks to aggressively provide financing to small farmers, the government has also provided 10 percent first loss coverage and an operational cost subsidy of Rs10,000 per borrower for the net increase in outstanding borrowers of banks.”

The Zarkheze application is available for download on Google Play Store, while farmers can visit their nearest bank branch for assistance with digital onboarding, according to the statement.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said Zarkheze exemplifies their commitment to expanding financial inclusion.

“By facilitating access to formal credit for small farmers, this initiative supports the government’s broader objectives of rural development and national food security,” he said.

SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad called the launch of the digital platform a “pivotal step” in improving small farmers’ access to finance.

“By digitising the credit journey, we are removing friction for small farmers and ensuring that formal lending is accessible, timely, and helps farmers improve their productivity,” he said.

“Zarkheze will also support in achieving the broader goal of promoting and nurturing digital payments in rural economy.”

PBA Chairman Zafar Masud highlighted the banking sector’s collective role in supporting the initiative, stating the banking industry remains committed to the successful implementation of Zarkheze.

“We will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Pakistan to expand outreach and streamline processes for farmers across the country,” he said.

“By leveraging advanced technology and innovative credit assessment methods, we aim to improve access to finance for smallholder farmers, particularly landless operating within a largely undocumented sector.”

Topics: Zarkheze

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