Pakistan, China to work for the promotion of medical tourism

ISLAMABAD – As cooperation between Pakistan and China in multiple sectors is rapidly increasing, there is also a dire need to tap the potential of medical tourism between the two ‘iron brothers’, said President of China Pakistan Medical Association (CPMA) Dr. Muhammad Shahbaz yesterday.

“In my opinion, Pakistan patients should reach China for treatment, the quantity now is too little. Due to Covid-19, there are too many visa issues, and flights are not coming, a lot of difficulties are there,” Gwadar Pro quoted him as having said this.

He said that he has witnessed that a lot of work has been done in China to enhance the technology of artificial intelligence, big data, augmented and virtual reality, and telemedicine.

Top-class universities and hospitals in China are included in the list of the world’s top 500 universities and hospitals. Pakistan medical technology has not progressed to this extent, while our population has crossed more than 220 million.

In this regard, there is a dire need of medical cooperation between Pakistan and China. “Since China did not have much medical contact with the outside world, foreign patients don’t know China’s real medical level.”

This is also why in the global medical tourism industry which is worth $700 billion, the market occupied by China is zero,” said Li Dinggang, Executive President of Medicine of Beijing Lu Daopei Hematology Hospital.

“Except for the language barrier, one problem is that we do not have a platform to develop a connection between nations and related institutions. There is also a shortage of awareness and medical knowledge,” said the CPMA president.

He suggested that a platform that provides medical knowledge to other counties should be established and information about which kind of diseases can be treated in China should also be provided by them.