Govt plans National Digital Masterplan

According to Mettis Global, the federal government is moving ahead with a National Digital Masterplan resting on three pillars, covering governance, the economy and society. Senator Ahad Khan Cheema, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, said the government would try to put the plan before provincial chief ministers at their forthcoming session with the premier. He spoke while presiding over a Pakistan Digital Authority meeting that the IT and Telecom minister and PDA officials also attended.

The PDA is drafting plans for individual sectors, among them health, education and commerce, plus other government work. Authorities are also weighing a structured roadmap that would bring modern digital and AI skills into educational institutions, reaching primary and middle-school students. In healthcare, the meeting discussed unified patient records and a national registry of clinical histories from public and private hospitals, with a computerised CNIC-based system under discussion.

The PDA stressed that ministries and divisions need AI specialists and digitally savvy focal points. Existing IT staff could be trained for these posts, and some personnel from the e-Office rollout might also be trained and deployed. The PDA will coordinate training with the National Information Technology Board, and the government has consulted provincial IT departments while keeping provincial jurisdictions intact.