Doc's dream given another boost

12:27pm Wednesday 12th March 2008

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AN inspirational Lye surgeon's dream to build a £1m charity hospital in his homeland has been given a £38,000 boost following the latest fundraiser.

For the last 12 months Russells Hall Hospital consultant Atiq-ur Rehman has been on a quest to build a 50-bed state-of-the-art facility in the Pakistan village of Bewal, in Tehsil Gujar Khan.

Big-hearted relatives, friends and colleagues have backed him all the way raising around £400,000 through a variety of fundraisers such as a Mela Bazaar, coffee mornings and charity dinners - as well as generous donations and pledges.

The latest charity dinner alone - a bash at Birmingham's Regent Hall Banquetting Suite, attended by doctors, friends and supporters including Conservative peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi - raked in £38,000.

Mr Rehman, who lives in Chapel Street, Lye, said: "It was a great success. I'm really glad that people have given generously as always to this worthy cause.

"But we still need lots more events like this if we are to start offering out-patient, maternity and emergency services by the end of the year."

As well as cash to build the hospital, Mr Rehman is also now appealing for basic medical equipment to kit it out with; items needed include x-ray machine and ultra-sound machines.

It has been the father-of-two's lifelong ambition to improve the health services in his home town - which is around 50 miles from Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

He believes the five-storey hospital will save thousands of lives in the poverty-stricken region, where villagers die because they cannot afford to pay for routine treatment.

However - Mr Rehman's new charity hospital, which will be called Bewal International Hospital, will radically change the situation by offering free services to the poor.

Anyone wishing to donate to his campaign (named the Abdul Rehman Memorial Trust after his father) can send cheques payable to ARM Trust to the Stourbridge News offices, St Johns House, St Johns Road, Stourbridge, DY8 1EH or pay directly into HSBC account -22153904, sort code 40-43-17.