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KARACHI: Princess Zahra Aga Khan and Prince Rahim Aga Khan inaugurated a 50-bed medical centre in Gilgit on Tuesday.

According to a media release, the Aga Khan Medical Centre was established to provide health care in large underserved areas and to complement the government’s efforts to attain the sustainable development goals in health.

The facility — the Gilgit Centre — would provide high quality diagnostic and secondary health care and connect the Gilgit hub through a digital health network to clinics in Singal, Gupis, Aliabad, Soust, Booni and Garamchashma, it added.
Princess Zahra and Prince Rahim — who both are members of the board of directors of the Aga Khan Development Network — also visited a school in Rahimabad and the Aga Khan University’s Professional Development Centre, North, in Gilgit.

(The Express Tribune also reported the following)

The “hub” and “spoke” model is intended to ensure that essential health care is accessible to everyone throughout Pakistan.

Since the opening of the Aga Khan University’s School of Nursing in 1983, agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) have been involved in a number of activities along the entire health spectrum – from training nurses, doctors and other health professionals to providing care in underdeveloped areas, both in southern and northern parts of the country.

Over 8,200 tele-consultations for a range of needs—from bone fractures to cardiovascular diseases—have been made over the last two years through AKDN projects, saving patients over Rs400 million.

AKDN’s research into the burden of local diseases and health system design has been concentrated in Sindh, but research spokes have been extended throughout the country.

The education component of this integrated approach was highlighted by Princess Zahra and Prince Rahim when they visited a school in Rahimabad and the Aga Khan University’s Professional Development Centre, North (PDCN)
in Gilgit.

According to a press release, Rahimabad School is one of the 106 Aga Khan schools in Gilgit-Baltistan that serves more than 23,000 children in the region.

As part of the organisation’s plan to expand quality provision of education further, the school has recently improved and extended its facilities. It has added pre-primary classrooms and a multi-purpose hall reflecting the organisation’s commitment to early childhood education.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2016.