MUZAFFARABAD, May 25: The United Arab Emirates has reaffirmed its pledge to set up a 250-bed hospital in the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir as its contribution to a long-term reconstruction programme, a four-member delegation of UAE officials said here on Thursday.

The delegation was visiting the site of the quack-flattened Combined Military Hospital where the proposed facility will be built by the UAE government at a cost of about $20 million.

The CMH was the biggest healthcare centre in Muzaffarabad. At present the Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences is offering medical care but lack of public transport in the town causes great inconvenience to patients.

“People are suffering because there is no hospital in the main town. Why has there been this inordinate delay in reconstruction of the CMH,” read several banners displayed by young Kashmiri leader Khawaja Atif Bashir on the CMH road.