ITALY Punjab, new maternal and child health center in the name of Shabhaz Bhatti

The solidarity initiative is promoted by the association that continues the commitment of the Christian minister murdered in 2011. It was carried out with the support of the Italian diocese of Treviso in the town of Khushpur. His brother Paul Bhatti: “2022 with the consequences of Covid, the flood and the political crisis in the country is making the poor in Pakistan poorer and poorer.”

Treviso () – In the town of Khushpur, in the Pakistani district of Faisalabad, a new maternal and child health center was inaugurated in the name of Shahbaz Bhatti, a former minister of the Christian minority assassinated on March 2, 2011. The project it was started to provide a health center in an area that is far from hospitals and therefore lacks effective care. The center is designed to welcome and accompany pregnant women without ethnic or religious distinctions.

The project was carried out by the Italian association Missione Shahbaz Bhatti, whose founding members include the diocese of Treviso. This financed the center with important donations that were collected, particularly, on the occasion of the ordination of the Bishop of Vicenza, Monsignor Giuliano Brugnotto, born in the diocese.

In Pakistan, Shabhaz Bhatti was the first Catholic to serve as a minister, working for social justice and against the blasphemy law, which is often used against Christians in a predominantly Muslim country. Bhatti also put a lot of effort into the case of Asia Bibi, the Christian woman sentenced to death just for blasphemy, who was not released until 2018 after nine years in prison.

The Shabhaz Bhatti Mission is an entity in which Paul Bhatti, brother of the murdered minister, who, after having fought many battles with him in Pakistan, is now a doctor in Treviso, is personally involved. Today, the association is involved in projects of interreligious dialogue and education, in the promotion of rural and craft development that helps the poorest families, thus giving a voice to the most vulnerable classes who are often victims of the violation of their rights. fundamental. Today it has seven offices in different parts of Pakistan: Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Multan, Quetta and Karachi.

“In Khushpur, the Treviso funds bought some basic instruments, such as an anesthesia machine and an electric generator, and contributed to the purchase of an ambulance,” explained Dr. Bhatti. “A gynecologist, four nurses, two operating room assistants and other technical staff were hired. We have a collaboration with the University of Faisalabad, which runs small training courses for midwives and, in case of emergency, receives our patients. The objective is to sustain the Center financially for three years, and then make it autonomous with the income obtained from the payment of certain examinations and specialist visits”.

The Center strives to be open to everyone, especially in the serious situation that Pakistan is currently going through: “The year 2022 -says Paul Bhatti- left serious post-Covid sequels in the entire Pakistani population, especially in the poor, such as those belonging to religious minorities, who have suffered irreparable damage.To this must be added the unprecedented floods that devastated Pakistan in August, causing numerous victims and leaving thousands of people homeless and jobless.To this must be added serious political instability in the country, which progressively reduces economic resources and is making the poor poorer and poorer”.