RAWALPINDI, Aug 22 (APP): Al-Shifa Trust President Maj Gen (Retd) Rehmat Khan on Tuesday said that an extension block at Chakwal Eye Hospital would be completed by the end of year with an OPD capacity of 500 patients per day, while another hospital was being planned at Gilgit with the help of a donor organisation.
Briefing media persons about the future development programmes, he said that the Trust had embarked on a new plan to cope with the increasing number of eye patients.
“The number of patients is increasing every year, therefore, we have to increase our capacity as we are already providing services to 1.3 million people annually,” he added.
Rehmat Khan said the new block at the Chakwal Eye Hospital would be completed at the cost of Rs 150 million donated by a family. Moreover, a plan for a new 50-bed hospital at Gilgit was being finalised, and the two projects would enable the Trust to provide services to additional 200,000 people.
He said Retina and glaucoma patients would also be treated at the Chakwal Hospital. An outreach team would be deployed in the villages near Chakwal to conduct school screening, with pick and drop facilities to severe patients, he added.
“To reduce the waiting time at Rawalpindi Hospital, a new OPD block will be constructed with a capacity of treating 1,000 patients per day, while the operation tables are being increased to 29,” Rehmat Khan said.
The A-Shifa Trust president said under the development plan, eight more experts would be inducted at the Kohat Hospital, which would help increase the number of cataract surgeries there.
As far as Muzaffarabad Hospital was concerned, the outreach team was already performing duties there, he added. “The target for 2023 is 300 OPDs and 25-30 surgeries per day,” he said.
Rehmat Khan said 11 eye specialists were already treating patients at the Sukkar Hospital, and by October, corneal transplants would be started there.
He said during the last over three decades, the Al-Shifa Trust had treated 30 million patients free of charge, a service worth Rs 13 billion. Thousands of glaucoma, retina and cancer surgeries were also included in the free treatment.
He said that to cope with the increasing number of eye patients, the government should come forward and provide the latest eye treatment facilities at the district level.
