Today, University of Lahore and Muhammad Ali Jinnah Hospital in Kabul signed a Letter of Understanding for assisting running of the hospital and improving hospital’s operations to provide quality medical treatment to the Afghan citizens. In this regard, a simple ceremony held at Jinnah Hospital in Kabul was attended by Afghan Acting Minister of Public Health, visiting team of doctors from University of Lahore, Ambassador of Pakistan, senior Embassy officials and hospital administration in the presence of media. The University of Lahore has also started a process of distribution of monthly salaries to the hospital staff.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Hospital, a state of the art 200-bed health facility with modern equipment located in Kabul, is one of the three hospitals built by Pakistan as a gift by the Government and people of Pakistan to the Afghan people. The other two hospitals include Naib Aminullah Khan Logari Hospital in Logar and Nishtar Kidney centre Jalalabad.

Speaking on this occasion, Afghan Minister of Public Health Dr. Qalander Ebad thanked Pakistan and the University of Lahore for this timely assistance which would go a long way in helping the hospital in providing much-needed medical treatment to the people of Afghanistan. He described this contribution as important at a time when Afghanistan’s public health sector was facing economic sanctions by international community.

Ambassador of Pakistan in his remarks highlighted Pakistan’s continuing humanitarian assistance for Afghan brothers and sisters during this crisis, particularly in the health sector. He indicated that Pakistan’s plans for upgrading all the three hospitals to provide international standard health facilities to Afghans.

Ambassador Khan appreciated the University of Lahore, the largest private sector medical university with teaching hospital in Pakistan with an active enrollment of more than 45000 graduate and postgraduate students, for undertaking this endeavour of engaging in a process of modernization of public sector hospitals in Afghanistan built by Pakistan in recent years. He added that the main aim of this Letter of Understanding is upgrading the health facilities at Muhammad Ali Jinnah Hospital to the global standards and making it a teaching hospital.

In future, the University of Lahore plans to open a Nursing and Allied Health Sciences Colleges to uplift the health care facilities at the hospital as well as capacity building to provide quality health care work force to meet the country’s requirements. A Medical college would also be established next to the hospital which will be of the global standards and will be upgraded to a university offering standard education in both graduate and postgraduate programs in Afghanistan.

Kabul
14 June 2022