Chitral is one of the poorest provinces in Pakistan. It is located in the far northwest of the country, on the border with Afghanistan. Besides safety problems that are caused by attacks of the Taliban, the local population is burdened with unresolved daily needs, especially when it comes to the healthcare sector. People have to walk for miles just to reach the most basic medical health care.
The renovated hospital has a total of 20 beds and they are planning to expand the capacity to 30 beds. They have departments of general medicine, dentistry, dermatology, urology, maternity unit, pharmacy and the room for drug addicts. They have not solved the problems of additional objects, a canteen and an adequate number of qualified staff.
“This is just one of the many projects that the Embassy of BiH started in Pakistan when it comes to the health care sector. Someone might think that this is a really modest facility, from the European perspective, however, it represents a crucially important step forward for the citizens of this region. I am sure that the construction of the hospital will significantly help the most vulnerable ones,” said Ambassador Makarevic.
The holder of the project is the Government of the Kingdom of Norway, while the Embassy of the French Republic and BiH helped to raise the necessary resources for dental instruments and appliances for maternity unit. In this area was recorded a large number of drug addicts and therefore, the help in solving these problems is very important. The foundation “Aga Khan”, which is an international agency for development that operates from Central Asia to West Africa on projects for fight poverty, illiteracy and disease control, will take care of the work of this hospital.
The ceremony was attended by numerous officials of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, as well as the Ambassadors of Norway and France in Pakistan.
(Source: goBiH.ba)