Neil Hawkins, the Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan, speaks with people from the Goth Patel Khuda village. Photo: Fr Robert McCulloch
Eric Siraj, administrator of St Elizabeth Hospital Hyderabad, welcomed Neil Hawkins, the Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan, when he visited St Elizabeth and its School of Nursing on September 11. It was Mr Hawkins’ second visit and emphasised the collaboration between Australia and St Elizabeth in its work of providing healthcare in Hyderabad and the surrounding rural areas.
Since 2007, the high commission has given financial support to St Elizabeth for the purchase of essential surgical equipment, for flood relief, and this year to support the Mobile Medical Outreach, which is an integral part of the free healthcare that St Elizabeth provides to those in greatest need.
Eric Siraj accompanied the High Commissioner to Goth Patel Khuda, a village 40 km from Hyderabad, where 400 Muslim and Hindu families live. The Mobile Medical Outreach team gave primary health care to 283 patients with the support of the High Commission.
The High Commissioner also visited St Elizabeth School of Nursing. Eric Siraj informed him that St Elizabeth Hospital and Mater Hospital, Brisbane, will sign an MoU in October for lecturing at the School of Nursing and for clinical nursing development in St Elizabeth. He also visited the newly-constructed Palliative Care Day Centre at St Elizabeth which is the first in Pakistan. Eric Siraj thanked Mr Hawkins for the support to St Elizabeth from Australia through the high commission. Also, he highlighted the generous assistance of donors to St Elizabeth through the work of Fr Robert McCulloch, an Australian member of the Missionary Society of St Columban, who is a member and coordinator of St Elizabeth’s Board.
Columban Fr Robert McCulloch worked in Pakistan for 34 years, and currently lives in Rome.
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