It seems Pakistan finally has something positive to look forward to as we have reached a pretty significant milestone in the medical industry, which should be regarded as bright prospect for Pakistan. The Prime Minister Imran Khan is set to formally inaugurate Pakistan’s first indigenous cardiac stents manufacturing facility at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), today.
By doing so, Pakistan is set to become the 18th country in the world to locally manufacture cardiac stents, the 2nd Muslim state after Turkey to produce local cardiac stents and also the 2nd country in South Asia after our neighbours, India to produce cardiac stents locally. As per the Federal Minister for Science & Technology Pakistan, Fawad Chaudhry, the cardiac stents that have been developed with and at NUST measure up to European standards and shall save Pakistan Rs. 8 billion annually on the imports of medical stents.
He also added that with the successful implementation of the plan to produce locally, this will in turn significantly bring down bring down the already pretty high prices of cardiac stents in Pakistan which will ultimately help the cardiac patients in Pakistan, that right there is the ultimate goal for the government, to make such a treatment more accessible and economical for the people of Pakistan who face cardiac illness. Earlier in the year, specifically in March, the Drugs Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) gave the green light to NUST and approved the papers which allow NUST to set up a cardiac stent manufacturing plant in the country.
It should also be noted that a 200-acre medical equipment manufacturing zone is reportedly being set up in the city of Faisalabad, in the industrial area where essential medical equipment including stents, cannulas, syringes, needles, x-ray, and dialysis machines shall be developed and manufactured, allowing Pakistan to save $1.4 billion on the import expense. In addition, there is also word of another medical equipment manufacturing zone being set up in the city of Sialkot which will increase the district’s current annual exports from $400 million to $2 billion in just two years, significantly improving the balance of payments of Pakistan.
