Pakistani-Emirati military hospital opens in Rawalpindi

DUBAI/RAWALPINDI: The second phase of the United Arab Emirates-funded military hospital in Pakistan has been completed. The hospital is built in Rawalpindi at the cost of US$108 million.

The opening ceremony was attended by Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Isa Abdullah Basha Al Nuaimi, Director of the UAE's Pakistan Assistance Programme (UAEPAP) Abdullah Khalifa Al Ghafli, number of senior Pakistani Army officers, senior government officials and the hospital staff.

General Bajwa and other guests toured the hospital's different sections, including the outpatient clinics, specialist clinics, emergency unit, pharmacies, laboratories, radiology section and the blood bank.

General Bajwa also stopped at the operation theatres, inpatient wards, lecture halls and the hospital's control rooms.

It is one of the projects under way in Pakistan under the directives of President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Emirates official news agency WAM reported.

During the opening ceremony, General Qamar Bawja delivered a speech in which he thanked President UAE Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for their continuous support to Pakistan.

While, the UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Isa Abdullah Basha Al Nuaimi underlined UAE's keenness to support Pakistan through several humanitarian and development projects.

Director of the UAE's Pakistan Assistance Programme (UAEPAP) Abdullah Khalifa Al Ghafli said the US$108 million hospital, one of the key projects carried out by UAEPAP, was co-funded by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) and the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation.

The 1,000-bed hospital has a capacity to cater for 6,000 patients daily. It has 16 fully-equipped operation theatres to perform 50 major surgeries per day.

The projects are also supported by Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed.