Pakistan hands 200-bed hospital over to Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan and Afghan Minister of Public Health Dr Ferozuddin Feroz inaugurated a 200-bed ‘Muhammad Ali Jinnah Hospital’ in Kabul on Saturday.

The Vice-President of Afghanistan, Mohammad Sarwar Danish, graced the occasion as chief guest. The 200-bed state-of-art Jinnah Hospital completed at a cost of US $24 million was officially handed over by the Pakistan to the government of Afghanistan, said a news release issued here.

Khan expressed the hope that Jinnah Hospital would be a substantial contribution to the health sector of Afghanistan. He also conveyed the message of Prime Minister Imran Khan that Pakistan would continue to take all possible measures for the welfare of the people of Afghanistan and that the prime minister wished to see a stable, secure, peaceful, prosperous and sovereign Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Afghan Minister of Public Health Dr Feroz expressed deep gratitude for this generous gift of Jinnah Hospital by the government of Pakistan and appreciated Pakistan’s immense assistance in the health sector which also included under construction 100-bed Naeb Aminullah Khan Hospital, Logar, costing US $19 million and other completed projects including Nishtar Kidney Center, Jalalabad.

On the occasion Pakistan’s envoy Zahid Nasrullah Khan said Jinnah Hospital was a flagship project of Pakistan’s US$ one billion development assistance to Afghanistan in pursuance of Pakistan’s policy objective of deepening and broadening people to people connections between the two countries.