PM directs to set up artificial limbs centres
By Uzma Zafar

ISLAMABAD—Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Friday visited Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital to enquire about the health of earthquake affected patients and assured the government would provide them best possible health facilities. The Prime Minister went round the Children Hospital of the PIMS and the surgical ward. Federal Minister for Health Nasir Khan, Minister for Population Chaudhry Shahbaz, Minister of State for Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs Senator Muhammad Ali Durani and Federal Secretary Health Syed Anwar Mahmood were also present. Talking to newsmen, the Prime Minister said he has directed the Health Ministry to prepare a plan for establishment of modern centres for local production of artificial limbs for those who had their limbs amputated due to injuries in the earthquake. The Prime Minister said apart from plans for local manufacturing, foreign donors are also being urged to provide artificial limbs, crutches and wheel-chairs.
Appreciating the efforts of doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff, the Prime Minister said all the hospital of Islamabad and Rawalpindi and other areas played very important role in providing best possible and timely treatment to the injured brought to them after the October 8 earthquake. Prime Minister Aziz said the whole nation is proud of the contribution, dedication and hard work of the doctors nurses and other hospital staff including volunteers from many other countries. Shaukat Aziz said the government has opened community centers to accommodate the patients especially children and women who are being released from the hospitals after treatment. He said there was no shortage of medicines at any hospital of the federal capital and the government released Rs. 5 million soon after the earthquake to ensure availability of medicines.
He said all the hospitals worked beyond their capacity to provide best possible treatment to the quake victims. Now only serious patients were being shifted to hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi while minor injuries were being treated at the 32 field hospitals working in the affected areas. These field hospitals have been set up with the cooperation of many countries and the Pakistan Army. The Minister of Health Nasir Khan informed the Prime Minister that the hospitals in the federal capital and Rawalpindi have more room to accommodate patients. Shaukat Aziz said besides providing tents, food and blankets, setting up hospitals in the quake affected areas was another priority of the government. Prime Minister Aziz said UAE government has beenestablishing 200-bed hospital in Muzaffarabad while Saudi Arabia has agreed to set up 100-bed hospital in Balakot while another 100-bed hospital would be constructed in Bagh. He said these hospitals would be ready very soon as they are being constructed with pre-fabricated material.
The Prime Minister said some of the schools in the quake affected areas have been opened while many more will start functioning after Eid-ul-Fitr. Shaukat Aziz also distributed Rs. 10,000 to each injured patient at the hospital so that they could meet their daily expenditures other than the medical treatment which is already being provided to them free of cost by the government. The Prime Minister said the government had released Rs. 75 million to provide cash compensation to the injured being treated in the hospitals so that their relatives living with them could not face any difficulty.
Later, the Prime Minister mixed up with the relatives of the patients outside the hospital. He shook hands with many of them and enquired about their well being and assured them that the government had been taking a number measures for their rehabilitation. He said the government would provide them financial aid along with corrugated galvanized iron sheets, cement and other necessary material to rebuild their damaged houses. On the complaint of an old man that the relief goods are not being distributed properly, the Prime Minister said he would personally look into the complaint and assured that there would be proper distribution of the goods among the victims.