Pak-Emirati hospital a shining example of friendship

The UAE and Pakistan are known to enjoy historically robust relations at all political, economic and social levels. The $108 million Pakistani-Emirati Military Hospital in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, considered one of the key projects carried out in Pakistan recently, stands as an outstanding example of the UAE’s humanitarian and developmental initiatives to combat pandemics and natural calamities.

The 1,400-bed hospital can cater to between 6,000 and 9,000 patients daily or three million a year. It has dedicated wards for outpatient clinics, specialist clinics, emergency unit, pharmacies, laboratories, radiology section and the blood bank.

It is operated by 350 doctors, 800 nursing staff and 1,500 technical and administrative staff.

The Hospital was built in line with the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.

It was co-funded by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation.

Since the era of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE has provided the Pakistani people with all forms of support, to help them overcome their challenges and achieve overall sustainable development.

In the last three months, the UAE sent three shipments of medical aid to Pakistan, totally weighing 18.3 tonnes, in addition to 20,000 coronavirus testing devices to help over 18,300 medical workers.

Abdullah Khalifa Al Ghafli, Director of the UAE’s Pakistan Assistance Programme, UAEPAP, has correctly attributed the hospital’s success in assisting the Pakistani government and army in combating COVID-19 to the wise approach of the UAE leadership in solidarity with the people of Pakistan.

The hospital, which was built in 2013, is among the biggest and most important military health projects in Pakistan. The integrated medical facility also offers internship and residency training programmes.

Separately, a polio eradication campaign carried out by the UAE in Pakistan from 2014 to September 2019 provided 418,956,226 polio vaccinations to over 71 million Pakistani children under the age of five.

The UAE is also a key trading partner of Pakistan, and the value of their trade exchange in 2018 amounted to Dhs11.8 billion. The UAE has also become the largest investor in Pakistan, where it has invested in the telecom, aviation, banking, real estate, oil and gas sectors.

At the start of 2019, the UAE supported Pakistan’s fiscal and monetary system by depositing Dhs11 billion ($3 billion) in the State Bank of Pakistan, which helped ensure its liquidity and maintained its foreign currency reserve.

The Pakistan government has adopted a balanced strategy in its dealings with the coronavirus pandemic, pursuing a balanced, smart lockdown policy to save people and the economy.

The strategy has worked and as per Pakistani Information Minister Shibli Faraz, cases of new coronavirus, COVID-19, in the country are decreasing daily, due to the effective measures taken by the government.

Pakistani exports to the UAE include oil products, food products, vegetables, fruits, fish and their derivatives, synthetic textiles, embroidered fabrics and raw materials for making fabrics, cotton, and fresh and frozen meat.

Today, nearly 1.6 million Pakistanis live in the UAE and the Pakistani diaspora has contributed to a lasting relationship between the two powerful nations.