{"id":22279,"date":"2020-03-29T19:54:54","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T14:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kashmir.today\/china-sends-tonnes-of-medical-aid-to-pakistan-to-fight-covid-19\/"},"modified":"2020-03-29T19:54:54","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T14:24:54","slug":"china-sends-tonnes-of-medical-aid-to-pakistan-to-fight-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/?p=22279","title":{"rendered":"China sends tonnes of medical aid to Pakistan to fight COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Islamabad receives 15,000 protective suits for doctors to stem coronavirus outbreak<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GULF TODAY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s Alibaba Foundation sent 500,000 surgical masks and 50,000 N95 respirators to Pakistan on March 25 at Karachi airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Islamabad: Following urgent calls for medical supplies, Pakistan on Friday received tonnes of protective gear and testing kits from China to contain the spread of coronavirus. The continuing and unprecedented assistance from China via air and road comes at a critical time when Pakistan\u2019s ill-equipped medical workers struggle to treat patients as the number of confirmed cases surpassed 1,200 on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt least 2 tonnes of masks, test kits, ventilators, medical protective clothes worth Rs. 67 million were handed over [to Pakistani officials] at Khunjerab Pass\u201d, the highest paved international border, according to a statement by Chinese embassy in Pakistan. \u201cThis is the friendship higher than mountains!\u201d the embassy tweeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday morning, trucks full of medical supplies were unloaded at the border as the teams from both sides braved the harsh weather and snow. Meanwhile, a plane carrying 50,000 coronavirus testing kits also arrived in Karachi on March 27. This was the second bulk consignment sent by China\u2019s Alibaba and Jack Ma Foundation within days. On March 25, the foundation sent 500,000 surgical masks and 50,000 N95 respirators to Pakistan. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Consul General of China Li Bijian and other officials received the supplies at Karachi airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15,000 protective suits
On March 26, Yan Chen, managing director of Challenge Group of Companies from China called on Prime Minister Imran Khan to donate 15,000 protection suits for Pakistani doctors and paramedical staff on the frontline battling the pandemic. To meet the increasing demand for protective gear, China will help produce the protection suit in Pakistan\u2019s city of Lahore, said the Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Yao Jing. Chinese government and leadership is committed to support Pakistan in combating Covid-19 as their top priority, the ambassador added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakistani premier conveyed sincere gratitude to China for supporting Pakistan. \u201cThe medical equipment provided by China will greatly strengthen Pakistan\u2019s capacity\u201d to fight the virus, PM Imran Khan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equipment to arrive soon
Pakistan will receive around 20 tonnes of medical goods and 20 ventilators on an urgent basis from China this week, said Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Lt. Gen. Mohammed Afzal, during March 27 media talk. Additionally, two more planes would bring 100 tonnes of urgently needed medical equipment from Beijing and Chengdu next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Governor Punjab Chaudhry Sarwar\u2019s request, a Chinese university has also agreed to work with Pakistani medical experts to convert a university campus into a 1,000-bed field hospital. The field hospital would be set up in Lahore. The University would also work in collaboration with Pakistani scientists to develop testing kits and other equipment in Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese doctors to help Pakistan
China will also send an eight-member team of doctors next week to work closely with local health officials. \u201cChina is preparing a medical team to visit Pakistan who will pay field trips to different localities in Pakistan,\u201d Zeng Yixin, Vice Minister of China\u2019s National Health Commission told Pakistan\u2019s state-run news agency, APP. The team would also share experiences and exchange views on the use of technology to combat the epidemic. The Chinese team will also support Pakistan in building temporary quarantine hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walk-through testing machine
The Chinese government is also sending a walk-through testing machine to Pakistan to diagnose a large number of suspected people for the novel coronavirus. The \u201cwalk-through machine will arrive at Khunjerab Pass by next week\u201d and it would ensure mass testing especially in the areas with Covid-19 clusters, the NDMA chairman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full gear for 30,000 ICU workers
There are currently 194,000 medical health practitioners in Pakistan, of which 30,000 work in ICUs. \u201cThese 30,000 medical practitioners working in ICUs will be equipped with complete medical kit by April,\u201d he said. Each box will contain face-shields, goggles, two N95 and 30 surgical masks, hand wash kit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of beds in the intensive care unit (ICUs) in Pakistan currently is 19,670. The capacity of quarantine facilities has also been enhanced from 500 beds to 162,000 now. Pakistan\u2019s Covid-19 command and control centre has also booked 1,795 three-star and four-star hotels where 40,000 patients can be accommodated if required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are nearly 2200 ventilators available in public hospitals. The number of the imported ventilators will reach to 1,000 by April 10 to 15, the NDMA chief said. This number would rise to 2,000 to 3,000 by April 25 and the officials expect to enhance it to 8,000 and 10,000 by May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakistan would have enough medical equipment, including personal protection kits, by April 5 to improve the safety of the health officials working on the frontline, said Health Minister Dr Zafar Mirza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top 3 priorities<\/strong>
Pakistan\u2019s top three priorities under the Covid-19\u202c strategy, according to NDMA chairman: \u202c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Medical gear for doctors & health workers<\/li>
  2. Ventilators & supplies for treatment of patients<\/li>
  3. Coronavirus testing kits<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    (This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Islamabad receives 15,000 protective suits for doctors to stem coronavirus outbreak GULF TODAY China\u2019s Alibaba Foundation sent 500,000 surgical masks and 50,000 N95 respirators to Pakistan on March 25 at Karachi airport. Islamabad: Following urgent calls for medical supplies, Pakistan on Friday received tonnes of protective gear and testing kits from China to contain the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kashmir.watch\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}