ISLAMABAD, May 10 (INP) China’s Xi’an Jiaotong University(XJTU), at the invitation of Pakistan’s University of Peshawar(UOP), held a video conference on COVID-19 prevention and treatment on Thursday. According to Gwadar Pro, Director General of Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission Dr. Safdar Ali Shah,  UOP Vice Chancellor Prof. Muhammad Asif Khan, XJTU Vice-President Xi Guang and more than 20 experts and scholars from Pakistan and China participated in the online conference. Dr. Safdar Ali Shah expressed his gratitude to XJTU for its support during the epidemic. “Cooperation and exchange among educational institutes at this crucial moment are of great value. Experience sharing will contribute to the world’s joint fight against COVID-19,” he mentioned. Mr. Xi Guang mentioned that the epidemic in China has been brought under control, and China's experience in fighting the virus will power Pakistan and other countries in containing the epidemic. “The Second Affiliated Hospital of XJTU had sent a medical team of more than 300 medics to Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak,” Xi said, “and our students returned to class recently. We believe that through joint efforts, things will get better for universities in Pakistan in the near future." Pro. Gong Shouping from the Second Affiliated Hospital of XJTU, one of the first Third-level grade-A hospitals in China, introduced in detail the medics’ experience on the front line in Wuhan, and illustrated some of the key measures that China took to contain the epidemic.

Other Chinese medical experts shared their views on the etiology, epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and control of COVID-19. They also presented the structure and functions of makeshift hospitals which had played an important part in China’s fight against the epidemic. Prof. Muhammad Asif Khan said on the occasion that he was delighted to see the epidemic, which occurred earlier this year, had been well controlled in China. “This gave Pakistan confidence and strength to tackle the virus,” he hoped that the idea sharing between the two universities will set an example for related regions to jointly end the pandemic. Medical experts from both countries also discussed group and personal protective measures during the orderly resumption of work, production and schooling.

Both sides agreed that international and regional cooperation should be expanded since all countries are bound together and become a community with a shared future.

INP/JAVED