It was a rather rude jolt of reality for Pakistan when the country’s Prime Minister himself questioned the country’s inability to produce even basic medical equipments.
Pakistan PM posed a rather serious question to his countrymen asking why a country like Pakistan that can build atom bombs cannot even build ventilators?
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In a private TV telethon, PM Imran Khan blaming his country’s dependence on exports expressed his amusement saying, “We could do that (make ventilators). This is not rocket science. We have made atom bombs.” The video of the program has gone viral in no time since it was aired on Friday.
Country that made atom bomb could have easily made ventilators instead of importing.
But Pakistan's atom bomb is also 'imported' na.. pic.twitter.com/gdzPvrXNTI
— Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) April 11, 2020
In fact, another fast bowler and former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar had earlier appealed to India to make 10,000 ventilators for Pakistan.
Akthat had stated — “If India can make 10,000 ventilators for us, Pakistan will remember this gesture forever.” The former Pakistani speedster had asked India and Pakistan to join hands for humanity.
#ShoaibAkhtar requests India to provide 10,000 ventilators for struggling Pakistan #CoronavirusOutbreak https://t.co/ZX24QZ93sn
— Republic (@republic) April 9, 2020
China, considered as Pakistan’s all-weather friend has been supplying Islamabad with most of the medical supplies. A special plane carrying medical supplies from China will land in Pakistan in the next couple of days.
This is the second such plane to arrive in the country, informed Naghmana Hashmi, Pakistan’s ambassador to China.
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In fact, such is the shortfall in medical supplies, that Pakistani’s from across the globe have been asked to find additional supplies and help their country of origin. Pakistani physicians working in the United States have been asked to finance the purchase of their ventilators for the Islamic Republic.
An association of Pakistani doctors called APPNA is looking at ventilators in the US and China. A Pakistani businessman in Japan had also offered to donate 16 ventilators to his home country.
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Earlier, the National Disaster Management Authority of Pakistan Chairman Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal stated that Pakistan currently only has 2,200 ventilators left and only half of these would be available if needed.
Meanwhile, while addressing a news conference along with Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar, Dr. Zafar Mirza (Special Assistant for Health) said some people analyzed statistics and incorrectly assumed that the Covid-19 crisis in Pakistan was not as critical as it was in other nations.
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Umar further stated that 100,000 coronavirus testing kits had reached Karachi out of which 50,000 would be handed to Sindh and 25,000 to Balochistan. “The country will be able to conduct 20,000 to 30,000 tests in a day by the end of April.”
The minister also said Pakistan had procured and distributed 14 new Polymerase Chain Reaction test machines. He added that there were up to 27 laboratories across the country equipped to conduct the tests.
