A major donation from a Peterborough manufacturer is helping families in Pakistan access clean drinking water and adhere to handwashing recommendations following the outbreak of COVID-19.

Family-run AA Labels, a specialist labels manufacturer, has installed a water treatment plant at its offices in Lahore to make clean drinking water freely available to local families 24 hours a day.

The project involved drilling 500 feet through bedrock to the water table and installing a filtration system and 10,000-litre dispensing tank, which supplies water to four collection points at the front of the property.

Demand is already exceeding expectation, with 140,000 litres of water per week and rising, currently being dispensed and collected by local residents.

It cost £7,500 to complete and has been funded by Medicaid Action Ltd, a charity established in the UK by AA Labels’ owner, Sohail Sethi, who was born in the?UK?but spent part of his childhood living with family in Lahore.

The charity primarily funds the Sakina Al-Shifa Clinic, set up by AA Labels in 2009 to provide free medical care to local people in Lahore who cannot afford private healthcare.

AA Labels now plans to provide additional funds for a generator and second water-storage and dispensing tank to maintain supply in-line with demand for clean water.

Sohail Sethi comments: “While visiting the AA Labels offices in Lahore earlier this year, I became aware of an issue regarding the supply of water to homes in the locality.

“Water is not always piped to properties, requiring people to walk considerable distances to collect water from government installed stand-pipes.

“These are only drilled to 300 feet and often provide water that is unclean and a direct cause of many of the patient ailments being seen by doctors and nurses at the clinic.

“Providing improved access to clean water became a priority to help ease patient loads at the clinic.

“The installation has been completed at the right time, as access to clean water will also make handwashing easier and help to reduce the spread of coronavirus in the local area.”

Imran Bashir, Practice Manager at the Sakina Al-Shifa clinic, comments: “I have been with this charity for seven years and I have seen it grow from serving less than 300 patients a month to 10,000 patients a month.

“This latest project, the drilling, construction and provision of clean drinking water to the local communities is an incredible development and will benefit the health of residents enormously and reduce the treatment of minor ailments from water borne diseases.”

AA Labels, based near Orton Longueville in Peterborough, specialises in designing, producing and printing labels for every major market and industry sector. Established in 2006, the business manufactures and distributes plain and printed labels in a range of materials, adhesives and finishes for commercial, industrial, specialist and home use throughout Europe and further afield with customers in Canada, Argentina, America, Australia and Hong Kong.

To find out more about the charity, visit www.aalabels.com/blog/charity/sakina-al-shifa-clinic/.