Fight against Covid-19: Qureshi lauds medical professionals

LAHORE: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has appreciated services and sacrifices of the medical professionals in their fight against Covid-19 at home and abroad.

Talking to the media persons after his visit to the Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) here on Sunday, he appreciated two British-Pakistani doctors who laid their lives in their fight against coronavirus as part of the National Health Services (NHS) in the United Kingdom. He said the Pakistani medical professionals across the globe had made the nation proud and they served as the ambassadors of the country at foreign lands.

About coronavirus, Qureshi said Prime Minister Imran Khan was well conversant with day-to-day situation on the coronavirus pandemic in the country, adding that the lockdown had its pros and cons and the whole world was divided on its imposition as a tool of containing the deadly virus as it had its economic implications. The world is resorting to smart lockdown which practices variations in lockdown and eases lockdown in the areas with less number of cases of coronavirus,? he added.

The foreign minister said PM Imran Khan believes that a government cannot be inconsiderate to economic impacts on the people in its decision to impose lockdown. About protest by coronavirus patients at Expo Centre Coronavirus Field Hospital, the FM said Punjab CM Usman Buzdar would look into it and redress the problems, faced by the patients. He said the Multan administration and all departments including the civil defence deserved appreciation.

To a question, Qureshi said the Covid-19 pandemic was a long battle and it may take six months or more to defeat the deadly virus which had overwhelmed large populations of the world. The government has to fight a dual battle against coronavirus as well as hunger, he said, adding that the traders were wary of economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and wanted the lockdown to be relaxed for the economy to stay stable.

He said the government would evolve a national strategy based on holistic picture of the coronavirus situation, adding that it was also to be seen whether our healthcare system would be able to absorb the pressure as country's healthcare system had few number of ventilators. On India, the foreign minister said India was a callous state and it had not mend its ways despite the global pandemic and unleashed a new wave of brutalities against the hapless Kashmiris in the Indian Occuied Kashmir (IOK), adding that the Indian forces were invading homes and killing Kashmiri shamelessly and did not return the corpses to the families. "I have written to the UN Security Council president while I am in close contact with the UN secretary general on the Kashmir issue," he added.

About the Chinese support, Qureshi thanked the Chinese government and the people for their support, adding that the country was ready to learn from the best practices from all the countries to defeat the virus. He said 3 per cent contraction in the world economy was the forecast, adding that the economic slide was sure to effect Pakistan's and other economies. He said the economic slow-down would deplete our foreign reserves as well the foreign exchange, adding that Pakistani labour in the Middle East was laid off as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

The FM said PM Imran Khan raised voice for the Pakistan and 75 other countries when he asked the world economic bodies to give debt relief in the wake of coronavirus pandemic so that the money could be used to strengthen healthcare facilities for the masses. About accountability of sugar mafia, Qureshi said the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf (PTI) believed in across-the-board accountability and the forensic audit report on sugar would be made public in three weeks time.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi visited the SIMS and handed over Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to the medical professionals on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA). Services Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Mehmood Ayaz briefed the foreign minister on the isolation ward and an ICU facilities for coronavirus patients at the SIMS besides setting up a 100-bed coronavirus hospital at the Camp Jail, Lahore. Special Secretary Health Nadir Chattha was also present during the briefing.