Islamabad \u2013 Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, has announced a comprehensive road map to transform Islamabad into Pakistan\u2019s first \u201cpilot smart city.\u201d Speaking at a press conference, she outlined government-backed initiatives aimed at digitizing public services, expanding fiber connectivity, introducing AI education, and delivering tele medicine to undeserved regions.<\/p>\n
Following the Prime Minister\u2019s directive, the Ministry of IT has fully funded the fiberization of all public schools, health units\u2014including Basic Health Units (BHUs), health centers, and hospitals\u2014as well as police stations in Islamabad. \u201cIn six to eight months, we expect 100% coverage for these institutions,\u201d the minister confirmed.<\/p>\n
To enhance public access, the Ministry is also working to provide free public Wi-Fi at key locations, including city parks, tourist spots, and metro buses. \u201cWe are onboarding a complete plan through public-private partnerships so that the government doesn\u2019t bear the full financial burden,\u201d Khawaja added.<\/p>\n
One of the most ambitious pillars of the Smart City initiative is AI and emerging technology education, starting from Grade 6 and eventually expanding to the K\u201312 level, including remote and under-connected schools in Islamabad’s peripheral and rural areas. \u201cWe want to ensure every child in Islamabad\u2014regardless of location\u2014has access to quality tech-based education,\u201d she stated, noting collaboration with the Ministry of Education and planned expansion to AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.<\/p>\n
On the healthcare front, Khawaja announced integration with the Ministry of Health for the launch of the \u2018One Patient, One ID\u2019 system. This digitized health identity initiative will streamline registrations across departments in public hospitals like PIMS, eliminating manual processes and enabling online appointments.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, once fiber reaches health units and BHUs, telemedicine services will be introduced to deliver specialized consultations locally, reducing the need for patients to travel to Islamabad\u2019s already overburdened tertiary care facilities. \u201cWe aim to decentralize and democratize healthcare,\u201d she emphasized.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the government plans to train 500,000 youth in IT and emerging technologies, in partnership with industry leaders including Google, Huawei, and Microsoft.<\/p>\n
Shaza Fatima concluded by reinforcing the government\u2019s commitment to building a connected and inclusive future. \u201cDigital Pakistan is no longer a dream\u2014it\u2019s in motion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad \u2013 Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, has announced a comprehensive road map to transform Islamabad into Pakistan\u2019s first \u201cpilot smart city.\u201d Speaking at a press conference, she outlined government-backed initiatives aimed at digitizing public services, expanding fiber connectivity, introducing AI education, and delivering tele medicine to undeserved regions. Following the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,9],"tags":[1350,1358,893,1352,1354,1357,1359,1351,1355,1349,1348,1353,1356],"class_list":["post-3761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan","category-tech","tag-aieducation","tag-digitalhealthcare","tag-digitalpakistan","tag-edtechpakistan","tag-fiberconnectivity","tag-googlehuaweimicrosoft","tag-islamabadsmartcity","tag-onepatientoneid","tag-publicwifipakistan","tag-shazafatima","tag-smartcityislamabad","tag-telemedicine","tag-youthittraining"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3763,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761\/revisions\/3763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}