The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has set up a medical facility in Pakistan for surgeries of children born with cleft lip and palate.
The setup of the Turkish aid agency is nothing less than a good news for Pakistan where a specialized operation theater has been set up at Al Mustafa Medical Center, a charity hospital run by a local NGO – in the southern port city of Karachi.
It will provide the medical facility for surgeries of children born with a cleft lip and palate in Pakistan, such health condition affects one in every 523 children born in the country, according to a 2019 study.
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According to a statement from TIKA, the facility will perform up to 1,000 surgeries annually.
The facility was inaugurated by Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency’s (TIKA) coordinator Ibrahim Katirci, founder of the charity Haji Muhammad Hanif Tayyab and provincial Governor Imran Ismail.
While addressing the ceremony on Tuesday, Ismail thanked TIKA and the Turkish government for setting up a state-of-the-art medical facility for needy children in Pakistan.
Ismail noted that the Pakistan-Turkey friendship is exemplary and will keep on flourishing in the days to come.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim Katirci, in his remarks, said the establishment of the medical facility is aimed at enabling the children born with cleft lip and palate a chance to live a normal life. Tayyab also thanked TIKA and the Turkish government for their contribution to “this noble cause.”
Moreover, an ultrasound facility at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center Karachi has recently been established by TIKA, which is Karachi’s largest public hospital with five color dopplers. The facility provides free of cost service to up to 6,000 patients a month.
There is another Turkish aid agency’s contribution too, they established Pakistan’s first-ever high dependency unit for Thalassemia patients in the country.
