"Today, now that the disease is spreading in Pakistan, the same students are thanking the government for not evacuating them and requesting us to take care of their families in the same way they were looked after by the Chinese government," Dr Zafar said while speaking to a team of doctors from China at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad on Sunday.
The SAPM said that it was very hard for the government to decide against the evacuation of Pakistani students from China during the coronavirus outbreak. “We worked very closely with the Chinese government and just followed their recommendations,” he added.
He said that when President Arif Alvi Umar and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi visited China recently, they spoke to the students in Wuhan through Skype. "They [students] thanked the president and said that the decision [to not bring them back] was the right thing to do, even though their families were pressuring the government to do so," Dr Zafar said.
While expressing his gratitude to the Chinese government for their cooperation by providing medical supplies and expertise during this difficult time, Mirza said: "It is truly remarkable that out of all the cases reported in Pakistan, not a single patient has a travel history to China. This is only achieved through cooperation and coordination between the two countries," he added.