Filed on February 3, 2020 | Last updated on February 3, 2020 at 05.01 am

He was the first foreign doctor who stepped forward to treat infected people in Wuhan.

A Pakistani doctor, who volunteered to treat coronavirus patients in Wuhan, has been lauded by Pakistani students and community members residing in China.

Dr Usman, a Pakistani teacher at Changsha Medical College, is the first foreign doctor who stepped forward to treat infected people in Wuhan as a volunteer.

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"I salute you. our friendship with China is not just rhetoric. It is a special relationship between the two countries," Salman Ali, a Pakistani student posted these comments on social media.

Several Pakistani traders, businessmen across China have also applauded the noble gesture by the doctor, who is helping Chinese paramedics combat the epidemic.

News of the Pakistani doctor in Wuhan was shared by the community in China on social media.

Usman, 29, had dreamed of becoming a doctor since he was a child. He graduated from Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine with a Bachelor's degree in 2012 and returned to Pakistan to practice medicine for four years.

During his four years of practice in Pakistan, he continued to miss China and Changsha. He said that China had provided him with good opportunities for education and employment and helped him realise his dream.

In 2016, he returned to China to pursue a master's degree in medicine at Central South University in Changsha. After graduation, he became a foreign teacher at Changsha medical college.

Lack of medical professionals

The young doctor decided to move to Wuhan after he learned about the shortage of medical professionals in the epidemic-hit city.

"The news said the epidemic area is lacking medical staff, I am a doctor...I love China, I would like to go to the Wuhan to help the doctor!"

Following the ongoing media coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, on January 27, Dr Usman formally applied to the foreign experts service office of Hunan science and technology department, hoping that he could go to the Wuhan for medical assistance.

"The staff of foreign expert services sent me methods of epidemic prevention and virus isolation every day, asking me to protect myself and solving many issues."

Talking to a reporter, Usman said that he was following the situation in China everyday after the outbreak of the pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus.

What does he tell concerned family and friends in Pakistan?

He replied, "I'm fine. The Chinese government cares about us very much."