Family Medicine Necessity but Still A Neglected Medical Specialty in Pakistan

Family Medicine is the primary care medical specialty concerned with provision of widespread health care to the person and the family irrespective of sex, age or kind of problem. It is the specialty of extensiveness that integrates the natural, medical and behavioral sciences. It is emerging as a frame of knowledge that is being constantly developed , explored and qualified as an integrative entity. In our country, this specialty was announced in late eighties. The number of qualified family medicine specialists is still alarmingly low in our society. There is also a lack of understanding in majority of our population regarding the existence as well as importance of Family Medicine. Rotation of students in family medicine facility as part of undergraduate medical curriculum may help in fostering an interest among medical students in this newly emerging subspecialty which could have profound effect on delivery of quality health care in Pakista