ISLAMABAD: A plane, carrying relief goods for the flood-affected people from France, landed at the Islamabad airport where Federal Minister for Health Abdul Qadir Patel greeted the French ambassador who came along with the goods in the French language on Saturday.

Speaking to the media on the occasion, Patel said the government would not sit idle until and unless all the affected people were rehabilitated. He also said that there existed close relations between the two countries.

The minister stressed the need for making joint efforts to mitigate the sufferings of the people hit by the calamity.

He went on to say that the government of Pakistan was grateful not only to the French government but also to the French people whose support was proof that they stood by the people of Pakistan in these testing times.

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Patel said the items provided by France to Pakistan also included medicines and large pumps to drain out the floodwater. “Not only that French doctors have also reached here to look after the sick in the flood victims,” he added.

The minister said that although almost the entire country had been badly hit by floods, Sindh and Balochistan were the worst affected. “The health infrastructure in these two provinces has been badly damaged,” he said.