The prime minister added that producing equipment locally was the only way forward and stated that he was glad to hear there was sufficient production of sanitizers and disinfectants, and Pakistan could even export to other countries.
We already had model of how to achieve development and termed the overseas Pakistan an 'asset' of the country.
The prime minister said a country can achieve development as a whole, and not by a few rich.
He said that nations do not prosper because of gold and other minerals but because of self-belief but regretted that Pakistan has been lagging behind in development because of lack of self-belief, as self-confidence helps a person or a country face difficulties and stated that coronavirus has brought forth few realities for Pakistan that the country of 220 million population could not depend on importing everything and the health system has to be revamped and start producing things locally.
There is a need to improve our hospitals and revamp our medical infrastructure in the country and these were neglected in the past because of the elite, he said, adding that the ministers, prime ministers and other government officials used to rush abroad for medical treatment on tax payers' money.
The science minister suggested that one percent profit of all industries should be set aside for research, and research and development should be headed by the private sector, and underlined need for collaboration between civil and military institutes in the field of research.
Minister of Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said that Pakistan was now producing Personal Protective Equipment locally at much cheaper price to deal with the challenge of the Covid-19.
While giving a briefing to the prime minister, he stated that hand sanitizers and disinfectants were being produced locally in large number, and could also be exported and this was achieved in last few weeks from the first week of March onward.
The minister said that as many as seven models of ventilators at licensing stage and would be ready by one week.
He said that the National University of Science and Technology had developed its own testing kit, and the ministry was provided all kinds of support by the Ministry of Defense as well as other organisations.
Minister of Defence Production Zobaida Jalal also informed the prime minister of his ministry, and it mobilized our teams working under Ministry of Defence Production to prepare safety equipment in fight against coronavirus.
She added that the ministry has achieved capability of producing considerable number of hand sanitizers, high quality masks and protective suits per day.