KARACHI, Pakistan

Turkey's state-run aid agency has set up a medical facility for surgeries of children born with cleft lip and palate in Pakistan.

The specialized operation theater has been set up at Al Mustafa Medical Center -- a charity hospital run by a local NGO -- in the southern port city of Karachi.

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency's (TIKA) coordinator Ibrahim Katirci, founder of the charity Haji Muhammad Hanif Tayyab and provincial Governor Imran Ismail inaugurated the facility.

The facility, according to a statement from TIKA, will perform up to 1,000 surgeries annually.

Addressing the ceremony on Tuesday, Ismail thanked TIKA and the Turkish government for setting up the state-of-the-art facility for needy children.

Pakistan-Turkey friendship, he noted, is exemplary and will keep on flourishing in the days to come.

Katirci, in his remarks, said the establishment of the medical facility is aimed at enabling the children born with cleft lip and palate a chance to live a normal life.

Tayyab also thanked TIKA and the Turkish government for their contribution to "this noble cause."

TIKA recently established an ultrasound facility at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center Karachi, the city's largest public hospital, with five color dopplers.

The facility provides free of cost service to up to 6,000 patients a month.

Pakistan’s first-ever high dependency unit for Thalassemia patients has also been established by the Turkish aid agency in Karachi.