A very big thank you to the people of Blackburn and the surrounding areas who helped raise £4634 for the Iqbal Eye Hospital in Pakistan. The money was raised during the month of Ramadhan on the local radio station Awaaz FM run by Rana Gulistan.

Iqbal Eye Hospital is based on GT Road in Dina near Jhelum in Pakistan. The hospital has been working in the area for the past five years and has already helped over thousands of poor people who cannot afford the cost of operations and treatments. Iqbak Eye Hospital has even helped these poor people as out patients by providing them with free medication, free spectacles and free food during treatments.

A special appeal was made on Awaaz FM in a programme called 'Sirat-ul-Mustaqeem' presented by Ghulam Rasool and Masood Rahi. The programme was very succesful as listeners from Blackburn and its surrounding areas came in to the studio to donate money. Donations were also collected from people's homes that were unable to come in to the studio personally.

Doantions were also received from the families and friends of Ghulam Rasool and Masood Rahi who raised a significant amount to add to the total.

We also would like to thank Mussarat Shaheen and Ayaz Ahmed who also raised money through their circle of friends.

Special shields were made to the names of Ghulam Rasool, Mussarat Shaheen and Rana Gulistan Khan. These awards were presented to them by the Vice President of the Iqbal Eye Hospital, Lala Mohammad Razaq at a special ceremony held at 'Kebbabish' Restaurant in Blackburn.

The money collected converted into five lakhs thirty two thousand and nine hundred and ten Pakistan Rupees (Rs 532,910). This money will be spent on building a new ward for the hospital and will be named 'Blackburn Ward'.

It is hoped that it will be a great satisfaction to all those people who gave donations for this good cause and therefore be assured that every penny is spent accordingly.

For those people who have any questions on this project and would like to receive any further information on the Iqbal Eye Hospital's developments can contact:
Masood Rahi on (+44) 07979 636139.

A special thank you to Masood Rahi and Ghulam Rasool for all the hard work and effort in making this appeal a great success.

Haji Mohammad Iqbal,
President of Iqbal Eye Hospital
Dina, Jhelum