A hospital being built in Pakistan with the help of nearly £82,000 raised by Telegraph & Argus readers is expected to be treating its first patients by the end of this year.

The foundations of the hospital have been completed and pillars at the front are now under construction.

Funds were raised after a major earthquake in 2005 struck close to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-governed Azad Kashmir, killing 87,000 people and leaving thousands without access to medical facilities.

The T&A teamed up with the Lord Mayor of Bradford’s Kashmir Earth-quake Appeal Trust to raise money.

A group of doctors in the Midlands had set up the Midland Doctors Association UK (MDAUK) to build a hospital and the two appeals were combined. A ward will be named after the T&A to mark our readers’ fantastic fundraising effort.

Dr Javed Ahmed, a consultant surgeon at Royal Derby Hospital and a founding member of MDAUK, visited Bradford to update people involved in the appeal on the hospital’s progress.

He said: “The foundations have been built according to the full earthquake specifications and are continually being tested.

“The outpatient department and the main reception of the hospital will be finished first along with the operating theatres. The in-patient wards and the educational facility will be done after the front portion is completed. As soon as the front part is completed we will start seeing patients.”

Dr Ahmed said work on the hospital was delayed due to high estimates from foreign construction companies. The work is now to be carried out by local engineers and builders to keep to MDAUK’s £1.5 million estimate.

The 60-bed hospital will be built to NHS-standard specification. Perma-nent staff will be paid, but MDAUK doctors will volunteer their services.

Once it is complete, the hospital will cost £30,000 a month to run. To donate visit mdauk.co.uk.

e-mail: hannah.baker@telegraphandargus.co.uk