Health minister arrives in Washington for first-ever ‘US-Pakistan Health Dialogue’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s health minister Abdul Qadir Patel arrived in Washington on Sunday to lead a four-member delegation to the first-ever “US-Pakistan Health Dialogue” between the two countries, according to the state-run Radio Pakistan.
Last month, Pakistan’s top diplomat in the US, Masood Khan, said his country was planning to strengthen its health sector by seeking assistance from leading American public agencies and pharmaceutical companies, adding that it also wanted to promote linkages between the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) and its own health ministry.
Pakistan and the US closely cooperated during the coronavirus pandemic. The US donated over 61.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Pakistan as of April this year, making it the largest donor of vaccines to the South Asian nation.
It also provided large quantities of N95 masks, protective goggles, ventilators and pulse oximeters to Pakistan.
According to Radio Pakistan, Ambassador Khan and other officials of the Pakistan embassy will also join their country’s delegation in Washington to attend the dialogue hosted by the US State Department on Monday.
“Both sides will be carrying out discussions all day on a comprehensive agenda to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the health sector,” Radio Pakistan reported.
Officials of the health ministry and top health experts from across Pakistan will participate in the sessions virtually.
“The participants will be discussing important issues in the seven sessions of the health dialogue including establishing a Pakistani Center for Disease Control, global health security, childhood immunizations, COVID-19 engagement, regulatory engagements, maternal and child health, and non-communicable diseases,” Radio Pakistan added.
Pakistan said the dialogue was a “befitting way” to celebrate the milestone of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the US and Pakistan.