BRI facilitates fruitful medical cooperation between China, Pakistan

HAIKOU -- Anzal Mahnoor enjoys her time as an MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) student at Hainan Medical University, located in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province.

"Here in this university, I get a chance to make wonderful friends, and I get a chance to fulfill my dream to become a good doctor," said the 24-year-old from Pakistan. "I get a lot of knowledge regarding my studies from my best teachers."

She is one of the abundant talents coming to Hainan as medical cooperation between China and Pakistan has grown fruitful in the past decade thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

China proposed the idea of building an "economic belt along the Silk Road" in Kazakhstan in 2013, which, combined with the proposal of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, eventually became the Belt and Road Initiative.

As a primary hub along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Hainan has made use of favorable supporting policies and its unique advantages to pioneer the country's high-level opening up.

In the past 10 years, China has seen increasing medical cooperation with countries and regions jointly building the Belt and Road, including Pakistan. Through a series of mechanisms, tens of thousands of health professionals have been trained in areas such as health management, public health, and medical research.

In Hainan, for instance, the Belt and Road Tropical Medical Alliance was established in 2018, led by Hainan Medical University. The alliance currently has several member units from Pakistan.

So far, the alliance has successfully organized five medicine forums. More than 120 universities, medical institutions, and research institutes from more than 30 countries and regions have joined the alliance.

Medical cooperation between China and Pakistan has brought opportunities for many students from Pakistan.

This summer, in the city of Dongfang, Hainan Province, a number of students from Pakistan and China formed a medical team at a local health center to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation training and other medical services to villagers.

These students of Hainan Medical University used what they learned in class to assist the professional medical experts. They took the patients' blood pressure and registered their information, and experienced other things done by grassroots doctors.

"This university has given me a lot of education," said Malik Usman Haider, 27, a student from Pakistan studying medicine at Hainan Medical University. "In the future, I want to stay here. China has given me so much and the government helps me, and the university also helps me a lot, so I want to give them something in return. It is a way to say thank you."

"I want to become a good doctor in the future," said Fraz Ahmad Shams, 28, also from Pakistan and an MBBS student at Hainan Medical University. "Maybe I will come back to China to do my master's degree."

Xia Qianfeng, dean of the tropical medical school under Hainan Medical University, said that in the future, the Belt and Road Tropical Medical Alliance will continue to work together with all member units to build a bridge of friendship with the world, and provide more opportunities for public health cooperation.