High Commissioner meets with Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust delegation; future collaboration discussed

London: High Commissioner Mohammad Nafees Zakaria met with a delegation of the Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust led by its Chief Executive Mr Neil Carr at the High Commission on 22 July 2020. Mr Carr was accompanied by Dr. Abid Khan, Medical Director and Dr. Muhammad Gul, Associate Medical Director.

The two sides discussed the situation arising from pandemic COVID-19 and future collaboration between health sectors of the two countries.

The High Commissioner welcomed the ongoing cooperation of the Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust with Pakistan’s health sector, particularly its continued collaboration with the Medical Corps of armed forces of Pakistan. He said ongoing pandemic is a global challenge, and needs global cooperation.  Mr Zakaria paid tribute to the brave heart NHS Doctors and health workers for their heroic role in fighting the pandemic and saving lives. He also commended the British Pakistani medical professionals for their excellent work and sacrifices rendered during the pandemic. Mr Zakaria briefed the delegation on the situation in Pakistan in the wake of pandemic crisis. He highlighted that early measures to check the spread of virus, initially imported, turned out to be effective in containing infections and fatalities in the country.

The High Commissioner said with ever increasing global demand for PPE, Pakistan has been able to develop some more niche products in this category for export to the outside world, particularly to the UK. Pakistan’s well developed textile sector came handy in this regard. Owing to this, the country is now producing masks including N95 masks, gloves, goggles, face shields (visors), gowns, shoe covers, hand sanitizers, contactless thermometers and hospital bed sheets of international quality for export. Some samples of these Pakistani products have been shared with important institutions and potential buyers in the UK, he added. He shared that Pakistan Engineering Council and Ministry of Science & Technology have developed good quality ventilators meeting international export standards.

On this occasion, the High Commissioner presented CE certified Pakistan manufactured Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) ‘Face Shields’ to the Chief Executive as a goodwill gesture.

Mr Neil Carr thanked the High Commissioner for his thoughtfulness and efforts to promote bilateral cooperation. He assured of working towards further consolidation of the relationship between the Trust and Pakistan’s health sector. Mr Carr hoped for more knowledge and expertise sharing at the institutional level in future for the mutual benefit of the two countries.

Mr Julian Hamilton Barns, Chairman Pakistan Britain Business Council (PBBC) also spoke on the occasion and said there was great scope of increasing PPE category exports of Pakistan to the world, particularly to the UK.

The guests were served with Pakistani mangoes which they thoroughly enjoyed.