By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is going to achieve another milestone in boosting Pakistan’s new emerging medical Industry. The local manufacturing of medical equipment in the Allama Iqbal Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the first SEZ under CPEC is going to save Pakistan Rs. 230 billion every year and reduce the current cost by roughly 50%.
The manufacturing units will be set up in Pakistan’s first medical city, which will start the medical devices manufacturing zone on 200 Acres. For this purpose, an MoU was recently signed between the Pakistan Ministry of Science and Technology and Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) – the developing body of the Allama Iqbal Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
Since the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the minister of science and technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussein has been focusing more on manufacturing its own medical devices instead of importing from other countries. For this purpose, the manufacturing of medical devices, especially ventilators was started.
Pakistan is now among the top 10 countries which have successfully made its own ventilators for local use and to export worldwide.
The whole process of importing and setting up of the machinery in Faisalabad medical city would take six to eight months. In the first phase, the production of syringes, needles, cannulas, cartridges, wires, and cables and cardiac stents will start within the stipulated time. While in the second phase, the production of x-ray and dialysis machines will start in Pakistan.
Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the Allama Iqbal Industrial City Faisalabad in January this year. The project aimed to attract foreign and local investors promoting progressive economic activities in the country. The industrial city spreads across 3,217 acres of land and consists of various other sectors also including textile, information technology, chemicals automotive and service complex.
Progress has been achieved on the development of the SEZs in the last few months wherein four CPEC SEZs at Rashakai in Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa, Dhabeji in Sindh, M-3 Allama Iqbal in Punjab, and Bostan in Balochistan are now in advance stage of development.
