MUZAFFARABAD, Dec 10: A 25-member mission of French doctors and paramedics will arrive here on Saturday for five days to perform complicated surgeries at the Combined Military Hospital, officials confirmed on Friday.

The humanitarian mission comprising general surgeons, urologists, gynaecologists, anaesthetists, equipment operators, surgical aides and nurses will be led by French parliamentarian Dr Bernard Debre who is a former minister for international cooperation and development.

Dr Debre, a urological specialist in Cochin Hospital, Paris, led a similar mission to the city last year under an agreement signed in May 2003 by the AJK government, the United Nations Population Fund and the Action Pour la Sante, a French non-government organization.

The purpose of the mission was to contribute towards improvement of the quality of life in AJK through prevention and surgical treatment of different disorders. The mission will be accompanied by five French journalists covering health issues.

AJK Population Welfare Secretary Dr Bashirur Rehman Kanth told Dawn that the members of the mission would operate upon 30 to 40 people. The visiting specialists, who are bringing medical equipment and supplies with them, would work in collaboration with their senior counterparts here, besides training the juniors on postoperative nursing care, he said.