Cleft lip, palate cure project takes off

GUJRAT, March 27: Work on the country`s first-ever cleft lip and palate cure centre has begun with a foundation stone laying ceremony on GT Road near Julliani (in suburbs of Gujrat). A project of the Pakistan Cleft Lip and Palate Association, the centre will provide the facility of free surgery to the needy child patients having this congenital problem. The successful treatment will enable a child to gain confidence in life. The association has for the last 15 years been holding two camps every year for the surgery of such patients at a local hospital named after Haji Basheer, a philanthropist. Known Pakistani and British surgeons would do the surgery of the patients at the centre for which Haji Basheer`s scions have donated a 20-kanal piece of land to the PCLPA. Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Ijaz Basheer told the audience that the Japanese government had donated Rs9 million for the construction of the first block of the four-storey building. It would have 100 beds. He said the project cost was estimated to be Rs320 million (including land cost). He said free-of-cost treatment would be given to the patients and it would meet international standards. As each patient normally required Rs100,000 to Rs150,000 for treatment, he said, donor agencies and NGOs would come forward to contribute to the cause.Midland Trust United Kingdom head Khwaja Muhammad Aslam told the participants that the organisation had so far borne the cost of the surgery of over 500 such patients and it would finance the surgery of another 100 patients this year. Dr Amanullah Raja, a Pakistani surgeon who practices in the UK, and Dr Nick Heart also spoke. Haji Basheer Ahmed later laid the foundation stone of the facility named after his wife, Ayesha Basheer. ACCIDENT: A woman and her son were killed when a van hit them on GT Road in the Lalamusa Saddar police precinct on Sunda y. Reports said Nazim 30, who was a resident of Chokar Kalan, along with his mother Rabya Bibi, 70, was going somewhere by a bicycle when a rashly-driven van hit them, leading to their death. The police took the van into custody as the driver made good his escape.