HARIPUR, Dec 20: District Nazim Dr Raja Amer Zaman inaugurated the newly-constructed Life Saving Medical Facility (LSMF) — a type-D hospital — at the Hally village in the Barkot union council, Upper Khanpur on Thursday.

The project was completed with the financial assistance of Rs3.8 million provided by the Dutch government through an NGO, Save the Children US (SCUS), working to improve reproductive health services with particular focus on safe motherhood, family planing, and prevention of sexually-transmitted diseases.

One of the key strategies of the reproductive health programme initiated by SCUS in Haripur is to facilitate women with pregnancy-related emergencies by ensuring availability and access to basic emergency obstetric care services aimed at reduction in the alarming rate of mortality and morbidity.

The district Government will manage the facility professionally and bear the recurring expenditures as well under a tripartite agreement between SCUS, the district Government and the local community that donated the required piece of land. The district Government also made a commitment to construct residential apartments for the staff and the boundary wall of the premises.

The main facilities at the hospital included a two-bed emergency room, operation theatre, labour & recovery room, X-ray machine, pharmacy store, laboratory, four wards - each comprised of two beds, a room for ECG and Ultrasound, separate rooms for incharge medical officer, women MO, LHV, MT and EPI Technician, six bath rooms and four toilets.

The inaugural ceremony was attended by Syed Hassnain Kazmi, DCO, Haripur, Dr Raheel Nazir, Programme Manager RHP, representative of SCUS, Nazim of the Barkot union council and district government officials.

District Nazim Dr Raja Amer Zaman said that the district government had spent Rs35 million for the union council’s uplift.

He said it had spent Rs18.4 million on several electrification schemes in the same area, adding the Hally Middle School and the Government High School, Barkot, will be upgraded to high and higher secondary levels, respectively, by April 2004.