August 22, 2006	Tuesday	Rajab 26, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 21: While the quake-affected people brave hardships awaiting reconstruction and rehabilitation of the destroyed health infrastructure, the government departments concerned appear busy tossing around offers of financial help made by funding agencies.

A case in point is the grant of Euro 20 million offered by Germany, government sources told Dawn. The offer was made in November last year for reconstruction and improvement of three hospitals in AJK. The biggest of these was the Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences in Muzaffarabad.

“While the CMH was destroyed, this hospital miraculously survived the jolts and provided the much needed emergency surgical facilities and other necessary health care to thousands of quake victims. The staff of this hospital worked round the clock and treated a record number of patients,” said a source.

He said the German grant was aimed at making the hospital comparable to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad so that the local patients need not travel to Islamabad for want of any specialised equipment or facility.

“The second hospital is the district hospital in Bagh. This newly-built hospital was inaugurated in August, but got destroyed in October. The hospital staff managed to provide all health care facilities to people under temporary shelters and tents. The German grant aimed at rebuilding and expanding this hospital in view of the current and foreseeable health care needs of people in the district.”

Similarly, the tehsil hospital in forward Kahuta in the same district was set for reconstruction and expansion, the source said.

“The local people hope and pray that the officials concerned realise the miseries of the people, and make prompt use of the grant funds offered by the donors,” the source said. According to the information available with Dawn, Germany through KfW offered a grant of Euro 19.8 million for post-earthquake hospital reconstruction in AJK.

In this regard, the three hospitals identified by the AJK Health Department were Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences, Muzaffarabad, District Hospital Bagh, and Tehsil Hospital Kahuta, Bagh district.