The 200-bed hospital built over 50 kanals of land had covered area of over 50,000 square feet having the capacity to manage about 800 patients. – Reuters Photo

RAWALPINDI, March 12: The Al-Shifa Trust, which is already running three state-of-the-art eye hospitals in Rawalpindi, Kohat and Sukkur, is set to formally commission its fourth eye hospital in Muzaffarabad, the first such facility in eight districts of Azad Kashmir, later this month.

President Al-Shifa Trust Lt Gen (retired) Hamid Javaid said this while chairing a meeting held here on Sunday to review the arrangements for commissioning of the hospital, which is to be formally inaugurated towards the end of this month, says a press release.

While addressing the participants of the meeting, Executive Director Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Rawalpindi Brig (retired) Rizwan Ullah Asghar said that the hospital would formally be inaugurated by the end of March to provide specialised eye-care services to the people of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

He said that the 200-bed hospital built over 50 kanals of land had covered area of over 50,000 square feet having the capacity to manage about 800 patients with all types of eye diseases and undertake 100 operations daily.

He said that the construction of Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital in Muzaffarabad had been completed with the 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 as well as eye care to almost five million people as it will serve as a base hospital for multiple vision centers in remote areas of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan,” he said.—A Reporter