'Number of Chinese nationals working in Pakistan to reach 5m in next four years'

• In order to meet the health needs of millions of Chinese workers, we need to have specialised health facilities, says Shahzad Ali Khan.
• He says talks were in advanced stages to sign multiple, joint collaborative agreements with different Chinese research institutes
• "We wish to train Pakistani experts in modern medical technologies as well as traditional Chinese medicines," he adds. 

KARACHI: Over 5 million Chinese nationals will be working in Pakistan by 2025 under various development, industrial and other projects by 2025, according to a senior public health expert.

Talking to The News, Health Services Academy (HSA) Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Shahzad Ali Khan said that the health needs of millions of Chinese working in Pakistan could only be met by enhancing collaboration between Pakistani and Chinese medical universities, research institutes and biotechnological firms.

“In order to meet the health needs of millions of Chinese nationals working in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asian States, we need to have specialised health facilities, based on both modern and traditional treatment systems,“ he added.

China Pakistan Health Corridor (CPHC)

This can only be achieved by enhancing collaboration between Pakistani and Chinese health institutions under the China-Pakistan Health Corridor,” Vice Chancellor Health Services Academy (HSA) Prof Dr Shahzad Ali Khan told The News.

He said talks were in advanced stages to sign multiple, joint collaborative agreements with different Chinese academic, research institutes and biotechnological firms and added that during the 11th Annual Public Health Conference in Islamabad on September 23-24, 2021, several Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) would be signed between Pakistan and Chinese institutions.

“We wish to train Pakistani experts in modern medical technologies as well as traditional Chinese medicines, which is a treatment of choice by millions of people in China. These experts would not only fulfill the medical needs of visiting Chinese nationals but also of the Pakistani people, who believe in alternate medicine,” he added.

In the first step, Chairman CPHC Dr Lee, also the VC, HSA, will sign an MoU for the HSA’s joining into the China Pakistan Health Corridor, he said, adding the Department of Public Health of Wuhan University will sign an MoU for multiple cooperation in the academic partnership between China and Pakistan in the field of public health.

“The main component of this collaboration will be digital health, medical technology, traditional medicine and joint health research projects,” the HSA official added.

Also, the WHO Traditional Medicine Foundation of China will seek collaboration with HSA in the field of Traditional and Alternative Medicine (TAM) in Pakistan, Prof Khan said, adding the Digital Human will sign an MoU with HSA for the establishment of the Digital Human Project and Digital Medicine Lab in HSA, Islamabad.

“With its headquarter in Jinan, CPHC initiative is a multidisciplinary interconnected group of centres consisting of medical universities, hospitals, pharmaceutical, traditional medicine academies, research and training centres, in countries, along Belt and Road linked together by Telemedicine, Artificial Intelligence, VR/AR and Big Data,” he said.

He said that the CPHC has multiple initiatives between Chinese and Pakistani universities, hospitals and medical institutes.