Sardar Masood Khan urges APPNA to explore health tourism; invest in IT

CHICAGO, April 28 (SABAH): “The solution for Palestine is written large on the wall. There should be immediate ceasefire. The humanitarian assistance should be resumed instantaneously. It should not be one corridor; it should not be one pier. There should be multiple corridors. Palestinians’ right to self-determination should be recognized,” said Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Sardar Muhammad Masood Khan. 

Ambassador Masood Khan made these remarks addressing Spring Meeting of Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA)—the largest association of Pakistani diaspora who have been flying the flag of Pakistan in United States, Canada and around the world.

Congressman Jamaal Bowman and Congresswoman Delia Remirez addressed the gathering. Addressing a jam packed hall of over 570 attendees comprising Pakistani American physicians, healthcare professionals, community leaders and other dignitaries, Masood Khan paid a glowing tribute to the services of APPNA for presenting a bright face of Pakistan and its people with their service to the humanity. 

The Ambassador thanked President APPNA Asif Mohiuddin and Chair Spring Meeting 2024 Sajid Mehmood, for providing him with an opportunity to attend and speak to an august gathering.

U.S. representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district Ilhan Omar in her video message paid tribute to Pakistani physicians of APPNA for dedicating their lives to medical education and community service. “I am forever grateful in the ways in which you all show up to make sure our communities are taken care of,” she observed.

Highlighting the important contribution being made by Pakistani diaspora especially physicians in the US society, Ambassador told the audience that 18,000 Pakistani became American citizens this year— majority of them doctors and physicians. He highlighted that Pakistan and United States had two rounds of high-level health dialogue wherein the sides have taken momentous decisions to promote bilateral cooperation in healthcare. “We have requested US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help us establish a CDC in Pakistan for disease surveillance,” stated the Ambassador. “We have also decided to invest our time, energy and resources in non-communicable diseases and prevention of child and maternal mortality,” he added.

Highlighting significant investments being made by Pakistani-American doctors back home in telemedicine, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical transcription billing and other subsectors of healthcare, Masood Khan urged the doctors community to scale up their investments in Pakistan. “We can also experiment with the idea of health tourism on the model of Turkey,” said the Ambassador. Another area in which you can invest and some of you are investing already is IT,” he added. 

Masood Khan highlighted that the country has 192 million mobile phone users with 135 million broadband subscribers. This he said was a huge opportunity to capitalize in IT investments. “Pakistan is the most cos-effective country as far as IT is concerned,” stated the Ambassador. “Do invest in Pakistan, do have confidence in Pakistan,” urged the Ambassador.  He reiterated that Pakistani diaspora in the United States, especially doctors, engineers and other professionals were the most abiding link in Pak-US equation. “It is very resilient bond and we are proud of it. This is an asset for Pakistan and for the United States,” he observed. 

Earlier, the Ambassador also interacted with Pakistani community at the residence of Consul General of Pakistan in Chicago. The attendees included business leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals and community leaders.

Addressing the gathering the Ambassador highlighted huge investment opportunities existing in Pakistan especially in IT, agriculture, renewable energy and extractives industries. He highlighted the critical role which was being played by Special Investment Facilitation Council in facilitating investments, removing hurdles and ensuring that the business community is provided with a congenial environment to undertake profitable business ventures in Pakistan.

“Pakistan is poised to become tech hub in the region,” said the Ambassador.

He highlighted young and talented human capital of the country and the exponential growth in tech industry during past few years that have created ideal conditions for scaling up investments and reap dividends of a huge market of the region.