Tears trickled down Dr Guljit Chaudry’s face while she talked about the birth place of her parents, that is, Pakistan. “I feel connected here. I feel as if I have come back to my native land,” she said. Dr Chaudry was recently here to address a conference on clinical research in Pakistan, organised by the health minister and the trade body.

Her father, Prithi Pal Singh Sethi, belonged to Rawalpindi while her mother, Man Mon, hailed from Quetta. Though Dr Chaudry’s mother topped in matriculation exams, she could not continue with her studies in Delhi after Partition where her parents shifted. Her father preferred a textile business instead of studies.

On her way to the airport for her flight to Pakistan, “My father, at the age of 80, drove to the airport to see me off,” said Dr Chaudry, which was a pleasant surprise for her as her father had never before came to bid her farewell. When Dr Chaudry asked him why he had come, he said, “You are going to my native country.”

This is the second time that Dr Chaudry has come to Karachi to address a medical conference. Earlier, she visited the city in 1994 to attend another health conference. Dr Chaudry said that her residence in Delhi was attached to the Pakistan embassy where a young man, Khawar Zaman was working. Zaman, later, rose to become the Inspector General (IG) of Police, Punjab when Dr Chaudry was here. On her way here, said Dr Chaudry, “I phoned Zaman and he immediately arranged a trip to Nankana (religious place of Sikhs) near Lahore, though it was not included in my schedule,” she recalled.

While talking about the health care industry in Pakistan, Dr Chaudry explained that in contrast to Pakistan, India has adopted a generic medicine scheme from 1975 to 2005, which has made tremendous growth. As it benefits the masses in terms of relatively cheaper prices for the medicines, she added.

Moreover, she added, in 1995, India made a promise that it will allow ‘patent regime’ in medicines after 10 years and in 2005, the country did just that by promoting clinical research. In this regard, Dr Chaudry added that India has now become the largest exporter in ‘pre-clinical chemistry services’ while it stands second in Asia after Japan in clinical services.

According to Chaudry, India has an adequate amount of patients and infrastructure to carry out clinical research. There are around 32 million diabetic patients, 10 million neuro-psychiatric patients, 60 million HIV positive patients and 13 million people suffering from obesity.

Referring to the studies carried out in the US, she said that all these diseases are the product of transitional ‘lifestyles.’ She believes that these diseases are now spreading in the rural areas. Patients with these diseases could be found in the villages of Gujrat and similarly in the various rural areas of Pakistan.

Dr Chaudhry said that multinational companies (MNCs) are now looking for clinical trials in developing countries. Since 2005, when New Delhi allowed clinical trials, the country started earning $400 million annually. She further explained that the MNCs need good doctors along with trained staff at hospitals/clinical labs which can generate a lot of employment opportunities for simple science graduates and computer operators for recording data. Dr Chaudhry also mentioned that India has set up ethical review boards and clinical trial on patients is only allowed after their informed consent. Additional research is going on in India for 50 new drugs, which has enabled India to switch to research services from generic schemes.