Al-Shifa Trust has set up a chain of four eye hospitals of international standard in the last two-decade in Rawalpindi, Kohat, Sukkur and Muzaffarabad, benefiting over six million patients. This was stated by Al-Shifa Trust President Lieutenant General (Retd) Jahandad Khan, while briefing media men on the performance of the trust with particular focus on 2010.
"In the eye hospital projects, we have paid special attention to the modern day needs," he added. He said they plan to establish one hospital in each province in the first phase, while in the second phase vision centres would be set up in every district of the country, adding that the latest addition to the chain of eye hospitals is the establishment of Muzaffarabad Eye Hospital at the cost of about Rs 300 million, which is expected to start functioning in February this year.
Al-Shifa Trust has established first lighthouse of Pakistan in Rawalpindi, where the latest equipment has been made available to train the blind people aimed at enabling them to earn their livelihood, he maintained. Khan said that the facility of tele-ophthalmology is also being provided at the Rawalpindi hospital and doctors of other hospitals could also benefit from the surgeries conducted or lectures delivered at the hospital, adding that Italian government funded the project, costing around Rs 100 million.-PR