US termed largest donor for earthquake victims

ISLAMABAD—Dr. Ikram, member of US Defence AdvisoryCommittee, Wednesday said that USA is the largest donor both in cash and material in the world for rehabilitation of earthquake victims in Pakistan and the US hospital in Azad Kashmir is extending latest Medicare facilities to the patients.
Dr. Ikram is a Pakistani-born US citizen and has been working in Las Vegas as a surgeon for the last thirty years. He is on visit to Pakistan to apprise himself with the performance of the US doctors who have established field hospital in Muzaffarabad. Briefing media about his nascent visit to earthquake-hit areas and the performance of US physicians at Muzaffarabad, he said that these doctorswere performing their duty with dedication and selflessly.
“A fund-raising campaign for earthquake victims in US has been initiated and in few days we have collected 600,000 dollars which is an ample proof of generosity of US citizens and their love towards Pakistan”, Ikram remarked. To a question about the slow response of world community towards provision of assistance to the earthquake victims, he said that international media did not highlight the magnitude of the tragedy in its true perspective.
He said that even in Pakistan people after a quite some time realized the magnitude of the mass scale devastation by the October 8 quake, especially in remote and inaccessible areas. Comparing the quake which hit Pakistan to the Tsunami, he said the catastrophe of the Tsunami had been the front page story from the very first day it hit the region. Ikram avoided answering political questions and said that his current to Pakistan was aimed at to apprising himself from the performance of US doctors. He said that during his stay in Pakistan he will hold meetings with NGOs and government functionaries in connection with rehabilitation of earthquake victims.—INP