RAWALPINDI: The government of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has allotted a prime land to Al-Shifa Trust to construct a state-of-the-art eye hospital. The 20-kanal piece is situated on Karakorum Highway near Aga Khan Hospital, accessible to people from remote areas for treatment.

President of Al-Shifa Trust, retired Maj-Gen Rehmat Khan, while briefing a board meeting of the trust, said that the GB government had issued the allotment letter during his recent visit to the area. The site allocated for the eye hospital is just three kilometres from the city, and the hospital will be able to treat 150 OPD patients per day and conduct 50 surgeries daily, he said.

Rehmat Khan said the hospital would be constructed with the help of the Rupani Foundation Pakistan, which has been reaching out to vulnerable populations for the last 16 years. This hospital will be the first state-of-the-art hospitalin the area, which will cost around Rs220 million, and the Rupani Foundation will bear half of its cost while the trust will arrange the rest of the amount through donations,he said.

The trust`s president said the hospital`s groundbreaking ceremony will be held in March 2024, and the grey structure will be completed by July 2025.

He noted that people of GB are badly affected by eye diseases, and a large number of them are facing blindness due to cataracts; therefore, it was necessary to provide them with a facility at their doorstep.

The hospital will also establish an attachment of medicines and mental health to treat general patients, he said, adding that training of paramedics will be started at Rawalpindi Eye Hospital. In this regard, a diploma course is being offered to the GB students on a preferable basis.

The trust has already started serving the patients, and arrangements regarding a series of camps have been finalised. A two-day free surgical eye camp and general medical camp have already been organised at RHQ Hospital, Chilas, along with school screening activities in collaboration with FCNA (Pak Army).

The camp was visited by Section Commander Diamer Bhasha Dam, Col Irfan Ghazi, M Iqbal, Medical Superintendent RHQ Hospital Chilas, and Dr Javaid Ur Rehman, Provincial Coordinator for the Prevention and Control of Blindness, GB, he informed.

President of Al-Shifa Trust said that the camp in Chilas was a part of Al-Shifa`s outreach activities to offer specialised eye care in remote areas of Pakistan. Staff Reporter