Daily Times

The government of Gilgit-Baltistan(GB) had allotted prime land to Al-Shifa Trust for constructing a state-of-the-art eye hospital, said President of Al-Shifa Trust, Maj. Gen. (Retd) Rehmat Khan here on Monday.

While briefing a board meeting of the trust, he said that the GB government had issued the allotment letter during his recent visit to the area.

Khan said that the 20-kanal land situated on Karakorum Highway near Aga Khan Hospital was accessible to people from remote areas for treatment.

“The site allocated for the eye hospital is three kilometers away from the city, and the hospital will be able to treat 150 OPD patients per day and conduct 50 surgeries daily,” he informed.

Rehmat Khan said that the hospital would be constructed with the help of the Rupani Foundation Pakistan, which had been reaching out to vulnerable populations for the last 16 years.

This hospital will be the first state-of-the-art hospital in the area, which will cost around 220 million rupees, and the Rupani Foundation will bear half of its cost while the trust will arrange the remaining cost through donations, he informed.

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

He noted that people of GB were badly affected by eye diseases, and a large number were 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 would be started at Rawalpindi Eye Hospital.

In this regard, a diploma course was being offered to the GB students on a preferable basis, he added.

The trust had already started serving the patients, and a two-day free surgical eye camp and general medical camp had already been organized 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, Maj Gen (Retd) Rehmat Khan said that the camp in Chilas was a part of Al-Shifa’s outreach activities to offer specialized eye care in remote areas of Pakistan.