Muzaffarabad: (Parliament Times) AJK Minister for Information, Tourism, Sports and Youth Affairs Raja Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas while hailing Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan for tackling the corona epidemic effectively has said that timely measures taken by the Prime Minister proved instrumental in reducing the spread of the pandemic in the region.
Minhas during a media interview said. “Despite strong economy and vibrant health care system the European countries became helpless in the face of the Corona but we have been able to contain the spread of the deadly virus through timely and proper administrative measures”. He said that as compared to other provinces the government of Azad Kashmir managed the situation well by ensuring full implementation of lockdown in the state. He said that the schools, colleges and business centers were also closed immediately, whereas health emergency was declared and section 144 imposed in the state.
He paid tributes to doctors, paramedics, disaster management, 1122, district administration, police and information officers for performing their duties with utmost sincerity, patience and diligence. He said that our performance was better than the four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan.
In response to a question, he said, “Initially testing for coronavirus was difficult and costly too, because there was no testing facility in AJK and samples of suspected COVID patients were sent to NIA for testing but latter on we decided to send doctors and medical staff to NIH for training and now we have testing facility available at all the three divisional headquarter hospitals.
In response to another question, he said, “I monitor the international media. Even the strongest economies in the world are helpless in the face of it. But we have stopped its spread through timely and proper administrative measures.”