On Thursday, the Prime Minister’s Office of Pakistan tweeted that PM Imran Khan would inaugurate a dedicated Coronavirus treatment facility in Islamabad. The 250-bedded Islamabad Isolation Hospital & Infectious Treatment Centre (IHITC) was reportedly constructed in 40 days. As per the tweet, the facility would ease the pressure on the overburdened healthcare capital hospitals of Pakistan, amidst the rising number of cases of Coronavirus outbreak.
Reportedly, the hospital has five wards to treat infectious diseases. Until Thursday, Pakistan had recorded a total of 4, 983 fatalities, and 240,848 cases of the Wuhan Coronavirus. Cabinet ministers such as Asad Umar, Shibli Faraz, Army Chief Bajwa, and Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing were present during the event. As per reports, the hospital was completed at a cost of 98 crores PKR.
PM @ImranKhanPTI will inaugurate Islamabad Isolation Hospital & Infectious Treatment Centre (IHITC) today.
— Prime Minister’s Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) July 9, 2020
250 beded state of the art IHITC constructed in record 40 days will be operational from today and will meet additional requirements to ease pressure from Capital hospitals. pic.twitter.com/62vIxynEuo
While Pakistan govt proudly announced that they built a Coronavirus hospital in just 40 days, China has said that the facility was built with its help. According to Chinese media, not only Pakistan thanked China for its ‘firm support’ in fighting the pandemic, the Pakistani government conceded that the hospital could be built in record time due to the support of China.
Pakistan wants to learn from ‘Chinese experience’
“The Chinese government and the Chinese people have been helping Pakistan prevent and control COVID-19, providing a large number of medical supplies, sending medical expert teams and aiding Pakistan with the building of the IHITC”, Imran Khan conceded, according to a report by Xinhuanet. Besides, the Pakistani side announced that they could learn from the experience of China in containing the pandemic as soon as possible.
Xinhuanet reported that the Chinese ambassador Yao stated that China and Pakistan had helped and supported each other in difficult times and that the mutual support would ’embody’ the essence of the shared future of both the countries.
Pakistani Mullah threatens China
Amidst the farce of Pakistan-China friendship, a Maulana had threatened China and asked the Chinese companies to follow the law of the land after various Chinese companies ban Pakistani employees from offering namaz, the Islamic prayer. In a video that had gone viral on social media, a visibly upset maulana can be heard threatening China to not interfere in their religion. As per reports, many Chinese companies in Pakistan have disallowed its Pakistani employees from offering namaz, one of the five basic tenets of Islam. A video shared by Twitter user Farah Khan reveals how one Pakistani employee of a company was beaten up by his employers for allegedly offering namaz.
