FM Qureshi pays homage to medical professionals.

LAHORE -- Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has appreciated the services and sacrifices of the medical professionals in their fight against COVID-19 at home and abroad.

Talking to the media persons after his visit to the Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) here on Sunday, he hailed the two British-Pakistani doctors who laid their lives in their fight against coronavirus as part of the National Health Services (NHS) in the United Kingdom.

The foreign minister said the Pakistani medical professionals across the globe had made the nation proud and they served as the ambassadors of the country at the foreign lands.

About coronavirus, the FM said Prime Minister Imran Khan was well conversant with the day-to-day situation on the coronavirus pandemic in the country, adding that the lockdown had its pros and cons and the whole world is divided on its imposition as a tool of containing the deadly virus as it had its economic implications.

'The world is resorting to smart lockdown which practices variations in lockdown and eases lockdown in the areas with less number of cases of coronavirus,' he added. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan believes that a government cannot be inconsiderate to the economic impacts on the people in its decision to impose lockdown.

About protest by coronavirus patients at Expo Centre Coronavirus Field Hospital, the largest quarantine in City with a capacity of 1,250 patients, he said that Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar would look into it and redress the problems, faced by the patients. He said that the Multan administration and all departments including the civil defence deserved appreciation.

To a question, Qureshi said COVID-19 pandemic is a long battle and it may take six months or more to defeat the deadly virus which had overwhelmed large populations of the world.

'The government has to fight a dual battle against coronavirus as well as hunger', he said, adding that 'the traders are wary of the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and want the lockdown to be relaxed for the economy to stay stable'.

He said the government would evolve a national strategy based on the holistic picture of the coronavirus situation, adding that it was also to be seen whether our healthcare system will be able to absorb the pressure as country's healthcare system has few number of ventilators.

On India, the Foreign Minister said Hindustan is a callous state and it had not mend its ways despite the global...

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