Hospital funded by UAE opens in Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi - During the opening ceremony, General Qamar Bawja thanked Sheikh Khalifa and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed for their "continuous support to Pakistan".

The second phase of the $108-million Pakistani-Emirati Military Hospital has been opened in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The move is in response to the directives of the President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan; His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces; and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.
The opening ceremony was attended by General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of the Staff of the Pakistani Army; Isa Abdullah Basha Al Nuaimi, UAE Ambassador to Pakistan; Abdullah Khalifa Al Ghafli, Director of the UAE's Pakistan Assistance Programme (UAEPAP); a number of senior Pakistani Army officers; government officials and hospital staff.
General Bawja 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.
They also stopped at the operation theatres, inpatient wards, lecture halls and the hospital's control rooms.
During the opening ceremony, General Qamar Bawja thanked Sheikh Khalifa and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed for their "continuous support to Pakistan".
Ambassador Al Nuaimi underlined the UAE's keenness to support Pakistan through several humanitarian and development projects. Al Ghafli said the $108-million hospital - one of the key projects carried out by the UAEPAP - was cofunded 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.
 

• Pakistan