State Bank to honour Edhi with special coin issuance on Saturday

KARACHI - In a bid to pay tribute to late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced to issue a special coin on Saturday.

"The denomination, shape and other details of the coin are being finalised and will be announced on Saturday at a special condolence reference for Edhi," SBP Spokesman Abid Qamar was quoted as saying by the Dawn News.

Abdul Sattar Edhi had passed away on Friday late night at SIUT, Karachi. He was suffering from renal failure since 2013.

Later on Saturday, he was laid to rest at Edhi Village, following a state funeral attended by President Mamnoon Hussain, the three services chiefs, two chief ministers, Sindh governor and thousands of others including political and rights activists.

Edhi established the Edhi Foundation in 1951, which grew from a single-man single-room organisation to Pakistan’s largest non-profit social welfare programs.

The Edhi Foundation provides 24-hour emergency assistance across the nation of Pakistan and abroad. The Foundation owns over 1,800 private ambulance vans stationed in areas across Pakistan.

The ambulance dispatchers in Karachi, one of the busiest cities in Pakistan, receive up to 6,000 calls a day, each dealt with in 10 minutes, on average. The organisation also owns two private jets and one helicopter to assist in moving victims from hard-to-reach locations, especially during the event of a natural disaster.

The organisation runs several private outpatient hospitals located in Pakistan. Additional medical facilities include a diabetic centre, a nurse training centre, immunisation centres, and blood banks, including emergency banks during times of natural disasters or tragedies.

The Foundation is also known for its childcare services, especially for orphans, street children and infants abandoned by destitute parents. Most Edhi emergency

Most Edhi emergency centres also have a jhoola (cradle) located outside for mothers to leave their infants. These children are taken into custody, until their adoption by pre-screened families.