MULTAN: The 115 -year-old Women’s Christian Hospital has been delivering babies with a very low rate of Cesarean section, commonly known as C-Section.

Established in 1899, the health facility is popular for normal deliveries and free services for poor patients, the hospital administrator, Peter John Massey, told APP on Sunday.

He added that over 50 units of missionary hospitals were being run across the country under Brethren Church and Inter-serve fellowship. He said some of the hospitals offered general services while others specialised in gynae issues, adding they had 100 beds at the Women’s Christian Hospital. Popularly known as Mission Hospital, the health facility spanned over six-and-a half acres, he said.

Massey said the hospital was earlier known as “Mohabbat Hospital” in the past, adding that Dr Eager was its founding member and it was opened by the Church Missionary Society (CMS).

Missionary general hospitals were located in Peshawar, Tank, Bach, Qalandarabad near Abbottabad, Kunhar, Chitral, Gari Habibullah, Taxila, Sialkot, Lahore, Sahiwal, Quetta and Karachi, Massey said. To a question, he said that hospitals specialising in gynae issues operated in Mirpur (Muzaffarabad), Sheikhupura, Konri (Sindh), Multan, Faisalabad, and some other cities.

Replying to another question, the administrator said this missionary hospital had three wards: gynae, children’s and obstetrics.

He said Women’s Christian Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Marian Morrison had been serving for 25 years and was a UK-qualified gynaecologist. Massey said they had also been training nurses and midwives at the hospital.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2014