Health corridor offers affordable medical treatment

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The introduction of health corridor can greatly benefit common Pakistanis who have had to face difficulties due to expensive lab tests and other medical treatment particularly under severe situation arising out due to COVID-19 outbreak thus cooperation between Pakistan and China in healthcare sector could play an important role.

“Health corridor is another significant avenue of Sino-Pak cooperation as China has invested heavily in infrastructure and energy sectors in Pakistan and a lot can be done in medical education and medical tourism,” Dr Muhammad Shahbaz stated in an interview.

As a surgeon and PhD scholar at the Shandong University and having spent more than a decade in China as a medical student, he hoped that the CPEC will also bring about healthcare facilities and infrastructure cooperation in Pakistan and China.

“I have re-named it as the China Pakistan Health Corridor or simply the Health Corridor or the CPHC,” he pointed out. 

Dr Shahbaz had pioneered the concept of health corridor in 2017. Later, cooperation between Chinese and Pakistani institutes was initiated leading to the realization of the project. 

The health corridor establishes telemedicine, virtual classrooms, focussing on sharing medical data and experience and doctors training besides several mechanisms which were put in place such as Belt & Road Health Fund, Belt & Road Medical Force (BRMF), Silk Road Higher Medical Education forum (SRHMEF) and connectivity via Medical Tourism (BRM). 

He highly praised the actions and measures that Chinese government taken to cope with pandemic. “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought huge opportunity for the BRI countries specially China and Pakistan for better cooperation. Frequent online meetings between the two sides are very important. Chinese experts can train Pakistani doctors in order to better combat the pandemic. Data sharing is very important. Pakistani hospitals should be digitalized. Big Data centres can be established in top 20 hospitals in the first stage, tracking and keeping record of patients will be easy in this way. Telemedicine joint sessions can be held frequently,” Dr Shahbaz explained. 

He also mentioned the importance that Pakistan cooperates with China in medical sector. Pakistan has conceived its medical system from Britain. The Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) is highly respectable and well recognized in western countries.

“The cooperation will create opportunities for private sector. Through this initiative, friendship between both countries will deepen further pointing out that China had made good progress in medical field and its technology. 

Referring to expensive diagnostic labs and medical treatment in Pakistan, he said that medical cooperation will reduce the burden on Pakistan medical system.