Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says the federal government will fully fund the Pak-China Friendship Hospital, which has been handed over to Indus Hospital management to provide free medical treatment to patients from across Pakistan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced the reopening of the Pak-China Friendship Hospital, pledging that the federal government will bear 100% of its annual operating costs to provide free medical treatment to patients from across Pakistan.
Addressing the hospital’s inauguration ceremony, the prime minister apologized to China for the facility’s prolonged closure following the COVID-19 pandemic, describing the shutdown as a failure to serve poor and vulnerable people.
The hospital was gifted to Pakistan by the Chinese government and people during the pandemic. Shehbaz Sharif said the facility reflected the vision of Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose leadership, he said, was committed to shared goals and a common future for the region and the international community.
The prime minister said the hospital had proved highly beneficial during COVID-19 but was completely deactivated after the pandemic ended. It remained closed for several years, despite having been built at a cost of billions of rupees.
“I apologize for this long gap and negligence from 2020 until now,” Shehbaz Sharif said.
He described the closure as a serious injustice to the Chinese people, whose hard-earned resources had been used to provide a facility for patients in need.
The prime minister said the hospital had been handed over to the Indus Hospital management, which had assumed responsibility for the facility about a month earlier. The government will cover its entire annual expenditure, ensuring free treatment for patients from Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and other parts of the country.
Shehbaz Sharif said he had drawn on his experience in Punjab, where he had entrusted several hospitals to specialized medical organizations, including the Tayyip Erdogan Hospital in Muzaffargarh.
He recalled that the hospital, established in 2010-11, had been handed over to Indus Hospital after he approached its leadership, including Dr. Bari. He said the organization had continued to operate the facility and had treated thousands of patients.
The prime minister also referred to hospitals in Multan and Lahore that had been entrusted to the organization.
He said the Islamabad facility had previously been named Margalla Hospital but he had directed that its name be changed to Pak-China Friendship Hospital to reflect the enduring relationship between Pakistan and China.
Shehbaz Sharif expressed confidence that Dr. Bari, Mian Ahsan and their team would provide high-quality medical services not only to Islamabad residents but also to patients from surrounding regions.
He urged Health Minister Mustafa Kamal to improve healthcare standards and said the government would conduct third-party performance audits to assess the hospital’s services.
The prime minister said the audit mechanism would also encourage other hospitals to improve their performance, adding that providing healthcare to disadvantaged families was a fundamental responsibility of the state.
He concluded by thanking the officials and medical professionals involved in restoring the hospital and reaffirming the importance of Pakistan-China friendship.
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