Optical wellbeing: Azad Jammu and Kashmir to get modern eye-care
Al-Shifa trust announces plans to commission the facility by the end of March.
ISLAMABAD:
Al-Shifa Trust is set to formally commission its fourth eye hospital at Muzaffarabad later this month. This will be the first such facility in eight districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
The inauguration plan was discussed at a meeting chaired by Al-Shifa Trust President Lt Gen (Retd) Hamid Javaid here on Sunday. The meeting was held to review arrangements for the hospital’s commissioning.
The trust is already operating three modern eye hospitals in Rawalpindi, Kohat and Sukkur. With a population of over four million spread over an area of 13,300 square kilometres, AJK has not had a single modern eye hospital, until now. Moreover, the 1.5 million people of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) also add to this huge demand for eye-care facilities.
Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Rawalpindi Executive Director Brig (retd) Rizwanullah Asghar, who coordinates the functioning of the trust’s hospitals, informed the meeting that the hospital would be formally inaugurated by the end of March to provide specialised eye-care services to the people of AJK and G-B.
The meeting was told that the 200-bed hospital, built over 50 kanals of land, has a covered-area of over 50,000 square feet. It has the capacity to manage about 800 patients and undertake 100 operations per day.
Designed to cater for the eye-care needs of the entire region, the construction of the hospital in Muzaffarabad has been completed at a total cost of Rs250 million.
“Within 10 years, it will become a centre of excellence in the region providing postgraduate training to doctors and facilities for applied research to prevent blindness and provide eye care to almost five million people,” Asghar said. “It will serve as a base hospital for multiple vision centres in remote areas of Azad Kashmir and G-B,” he added.
Since the devastating earthquake of 2005, life in AJK is only now beginning to return to normalcy. However, the collapse of infrastructure has resulted in a marked increase in serious health problems, including blindness.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 7th, 2011.
Al-Shifa Trust is set to formally commission its fourth eye hospital at Muzaffarabad later this month. This will be the first such facility in eight districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
The inauguration plan was discussed at a meeting chaired by Al-Shifa Trust President Lt Gen (Retd) Hamid Javaid here on Sunday. The meeting was held to review arrangements for the hospital’s commissioning.
The trust is already operating three modern eye hospitals in Rawalpindi, Kohat and Sukkur. With a population of over four million spread over an area of 13,300 square kilometres, AJK has not had a single modern eye hospital, until now. Moreover, the 1.5 million people of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) also add to this huge demand for eye-care facilities.
Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Rawalpindi Executive Director Brig (retd) Rizwanullah Asghar, who coordinates the functioning of the trust’s hospitals, informed the meeting that the hospital would be formally inaugurated by the end of March to provide specialised eye-care services to the people of AJK and G-B.
The meeting was told that the 200-bed hospital, built over 50 kanals of land, has a covered-area of over 50,000 square feet. It has the capacity to manage about 800 patients and undertake 100 operations per day.
Designed to cater for the eye-care needs of the entire region, the construction of the hospital in Muzaffarabad has been completed at a total cost of Rs250 million.
“Within 10 years, it will become a centre of excellence in the region providing postgraduate training to doctors and facilities for applied research to prevent blindness and provide eye care to almost five million people,” Asghar said. “It will serve as a base hospital for multiple vision centres in remote areas of Azad Kashmir and G-B,” he added.
Since the devastating earthquake of 2005, life in AJK is only now beginning to return to normalcy. However, the collapse of infrastructure has resulted in a marked increase in serious health problems, including blindness.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 7th, 2011.