KARACHI, Jan 1: The Rs 20 million Cytogenetic Laboratory at the National Institute of Child Health Karachi will be functional by June 2006, the delegation of Pakistani American medical specialists was told on a visit to the NICH. Sponsored by the Child Aid Association, in collaboration with the Texas Children’s Hospital at Houston (US), the lab would be part of the Oncology Unit which has been providing treatment to children suffering from all types of cancers for about six years.

The visiting delegation comprised Dr Abdul Rasheed Piracha, President of the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America; Dr Rizwan Naeem, Director Cytogenetics at the Texas Children’s Hospital; and Dr Syed Samad, President, Dow Graduates Association USA.

Briefing the delegation, Prof Nizamul Hasan, ex-Director of NICH and President of Child Aid Association, said that the laboratory building has been funded by MNA Afsar Begum from Khushal Pakistan Fund allocation. APPNA has pledged US dollars 54,000 and has already released US dollars 27,000 against which orders for the purchase of machinery had already been placed. Scores of philanthropists had also made sizeable donations.

The delegation promised early release of the second instalment of US dollars 27,000 and assured more assistance for the project. On this occasion, the visiting Pakistani American medical experts went round the Oncology Unit where they particularly enquired about a child, Shafqat a survivor of the Oct 8 devastating earthquake, now under treatment for Leukemia. Shafqat’s family in the outskirts of Muzaffarabad lost its all in the quake. The family has been provided a home here and the father a suitable employment to be able to be with the suffering child, during the treatment.