Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed all federal ministries to complete the digitization of relevant data within the stipulated timeframe and provide it to the national central data centre, in coordination with provincial governments and concerned institutions.
He issued the directive on Thursday while chairing a progress review meeting on the Digital Nation Pakistan initiative in Islamabad. He said the central data centre under the programme would play a key role in delivering government services and facilities to citizens.
The prime minister said clearly defined responsibilities for federal ministries, together with data provision to the centre, would align the government system with modern requirements.
Shehbaz Sharif added that the programme is aimed at ensuring efficient and convenient services for citizens, and that bringing useful data from all sectors and institutions to one place could contribute significantly to economic development.
Referring to the fuel subsidy scheme for deserving segments of society, he said data sharing among institutions had played a key role in its successful implementation. He also said digitizing the performance of ministries and related data was important for preventing corruption and institutional mismanagement.
Shehbaz Sharif appreciated the Ministry of Health for its steps, in collaboration with provincial governments, toward establishing universal medical records at the national level. He also praised the implementation of QR codes to ensure the availability and verification of quality medicines across the country.
The Ministry of Information Technology briefed the meeting that comprehensive sector-specific digitization measures were under way with the cooperation of relevant ministries. The meeting was told that digitization in basic service sectors, particularly health and agriculture, was being completed on a priority basis in the interest of public convenience.
The IT Ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Law, is also working to make national laws available in one place to provide better guidance for future legislation. The meeting was informed that, in line with the prime minister’s directives, work on priority sectors is advancing toward digital government services, a digital economy and digital public facilitation.
Federal ministries briefed the meeting on their public services, performance and progress in providing data to the central data centre. A special briefing covered the provision of National Health Services data and the use of digitization to verify medicine quality.
