Local manufacturing of medical equipment

IT is really heartening to see that Pakistan is moving ahead with the local manufacturing of all sorts of medical equipment. Before the breakout of Covid-19, the country was importing equipment such as ventilators, but now their indigenous production has been started which will go a long way in helping Pakistan earn valuable foreign exchange through their exports.
Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, who really deserves the credit for the whole successes in the medical field, announced on Sunday the government has planned a whole new medical city in Faisalabad. He said in the first phase, production of syringes, needles, cannulas, cartridges, wires and cables and cardiac stents will be started whilst in the second X-rays and dialysis machines will be produced indigenously. Indeed this will be a great milestone that will take the country towards self reliance and bolster the industrial sector. Pakistan is already famous for its surgical products in the whole world but the regrettable part is that the successive governments did not pay any attention to further exploit the potential of electromagnetic and medical industry. In fact there is no dearth of talent in our country. If the country can get mastery in developing complex technology such as nuclear weapons, then excelling in other fields such as the medicine should not be a big issue for us. It is only the matter of setting the priorities right and providing the right kind of education to our youth. We are confident that Fawad Chaudhry who has activated the once dormant Science and Technology will spare no effort to take forward the medical industry on modern lines. As for Faisalabad medical city, work on it should be executed on a fast track basis and maximum incentives should be provided both to the foreign and domestic investors to attract investment in the city. We will also suggest that focus should be given to the research work and the linkages between the medical industry and the medical institutions be developed in order to realize the full potential of the sector.