BADIN, April 1: US Consul-General Kay L. Anske has said that a team will visit the Thalassaemia Care Centre, Badin, to explore the possibilities of strengthening the health facility.

She was talking to journalists here on Tuesday during her visit to the 16-bed centre, a partially USAID-funded facility with the capacity to serve around 200 patients every year free of cost.

The US diplomat expressed the hope that treatments provided in the centre would bring smiles back to the faces of many children.

Dr Haroon Memon, in-charge of the centre, told her that the centre catered to the needs of Badin and adjacent districts of Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas, Thatta, Tando Mohammad Khan, Sanghar and Tando Allahyar.

He said 301 patients had been registered at the centre which needed an ambulance, a PCR machine and cell separating machine for component therapy. A blood bank was the main requirements of the centre, he added.

Some children presented to Ms Anske handicrafts and art pieces they had made during their stay at the centre.

The US envoy later visited Laar Museum and Haji Ahmed Mallah Library.

Earlier, she met with Badin District Nazim Ali Anwar Halepoto who briefed her about a development plan of the Civil Hospital.

ASSAULT BID: A villager has accused three youths from an influential family of trying to criminally assault his two daughters.

Sajan Manganhar, resident of Nau Dumbalo, Matli taluka, and his family members accompanied by human rights activist Ahsan Ali Gul alleged at a press conference here on Monday that Rehan, Saeedullah, Asadullah in a state of drunkenness forcibly took away his daughters while they were harvesting wheat crop in the fields.

The accused forcibly took the girls to banana fields but on their hue and cry, some villagers rushed to rescue them and the accused escaped, Mr Manganhar said.

He said that they had reported the matter to the Tando Ghulam Ali police and demanded registration of an FIR and arrest of the accused.