ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will send a medical team to Afghanistan to provide, install and maintain medical equipment at three of its funded hospitals in Jalalabad, Logar and Kabul, according to a report published in a private newspaper.
According to the report, Pakistan has also announced the provision of medicines to the tune of Rs500 million to the country at the earliest, as part of the humanitarian assistance to the war-stricken country.
The newspaper, while quoting “informed” officials, reported that private pharmaceutical industry donors have also announced additional assistance of medicines worth Rs40 million for Afghanistan.
“A delegation from the pharmaceutical industry will also be visiting Afghanistan for investment and to assist indigenous medicine production in Afghanistan”, the report added.
The assistance is in addition to medical visa facilitation for patients at crossing points and the provision of emergency/life-saving medicines to Afghanistan. Pakistan earlier announced in-kind assistance of Rs5 billion to cater to healthcare needs of Afghans.
Besides polio eradication coordination under the immunisation programme assistance, the country agreed to provide training for capacity enhancement and institutional building of the Afghan healthcare system.
On Monday, Pakistan offered to host the extraordinary meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the current situation in Afghanistan after Saudi Arabia, the OIC summit chair, took the initiative to convene the meeting of top diplomats of the 57-member body.
