ABBOTTABAD: National Assembly Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi has said that the federal government has approved funds to establish cardiology and trauma centres in Abbottabad.

He was speaking as the chief guest at a ceremony held at the Ayub Teaching Hospital Complex to hand over a cheque worth Rs30 million for the installation of a CT scan machine at the hospital here the other day.

The federal government under the Refugees Affected and Hosting Area (RAHA) programme has provided Rs60 million for installation of the CT scan machine.

The cheque was handed over to the hospital’s administration by commissioner Afghan refugees Waqar Maroof and KP co-coordinator for RAHA, Fakhar Alam.

Mr Abbasi said that in past one and a half years, the federal government had approved mega projects worth billions of rupees for Hazara division, which included Rs33 billion for Hazara Motorway, Rs8 billion for reconstruction of schools in earthquake affected areas, and Rs12 billion for other projects.

He urged the doctors and management of the hospital to improve service delivery.

Earlier, Waqar Maroof, while speaking on the occasion, said that under a special agreement signed by the government of Pakistan with donor agencies, the registered Afghan refugees could stay in Pakistan till December 31, 2015. He said that those going back to their country were paid US $200 each.

He said that the federal government was also formulating a policy for unregistered Afghan nationals.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2015

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