LAHORE Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said Ittefaq Hospital (Trust) is rendering invaluable service to the ailing humanity for which hospital administration, doctors and paramedical staff deserves all appreciation. He also said the hospital set up by his father and his brothers 25 years ago had now become a full-fledged medical institution and considered one of the best hospitals of the country. He said the Hospital was engaged in the noble cause of service to humanity with commitment and dedication, and the fact that the Hospital had spent a sum of Rs 360 million on the provision of free medical facilities to the poor and deserving patients during the last four years was highly commendable. He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of intensive care unit at Ittefaq Hospital (Trust, here on Friday. Director of the Hospital Mian Javed Shafi, Chief Executive Officer Brig. (retd) Hafeez-ud-Din Ahmad Saddiqui, Members National Assembly Umer Suhail Zia Butt, Naseer Bhutta, Members Provincial Assembly Zaeem Qadri, Dr Asad Ashraf and a large number of doctors were present on the occasion. The CM said there were a number of medical institutions, which were serving the ailing humanity, and they were given financial assistance by the government, but the Hospital (Trust) was the only institution which had not ever been given even a single penny from national exchequer. He added that the Hospital had been equipped with latest equipment and it was being improved with its own resources. He maintained that it was due to the hard work of Mian Javed Shafi and his team that the Hospital had achieved a prominent status in the country. Brig. (retd) Hafeez Saddiqui, while giving a briefing, informed that the 435-bed Hospital (Trust) which had been equipped with the state-of-art medical equipment, had become the best medical institution of the country. He said a unique and modern intensive care unit had also been inaugurated in the Hospital. Arrangements have also been made for the training of paramedical staff in the hospital, he added. Earlier, the CM inaugurated the medical intensive care unit of the Hospital, and also inspected the medical facilities.