english urdu dictionary launched by nhf at pma

HealthBeat
Newsletter by NATIONAL HEALTH FORUM 1
Editor-in-Chief: Tanveer Imam
ENGLISH URDU DICTIONARY
LAUNCHED BY NHF AT PMA
Volume V, Number 1, March 2011
PAKISTAN MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION
ORGANIZES MEDICAL
CAMP AND MARATHON
AT HALEJI LAKE
O
Dr. Naseem Shekhani, President NHF is presenting the dictionary to Fahmida Riaz, Chairman Urdu Lughat Board
Pakistan, Dr. Shershah Syed and Ms. Fahmida Riaz addressing the assembly.
A
Medical English-Urdu Dictionary was launched at PMA House,
Karachi for para-medical staff. This
dictionary was sponsored by National
Health Forum, Inc. in USA. 10,000
copies were published and cost of each
dictionary is about Rs 400 and this will
be given to para-medical staff for the sum
of only Rs 10/-.
The launching occurred at PMA
House Karachi on December 31, 2010.
Dr. Fahmida Riaz, Chairperson of
LUGHAT (Dictionary) Board of
Pakistan was the keynote speaker. Mirza
Ali Azhar, current Secretary General
of PMA and Asif Aslam also spoke on
the occasion. National Health Forum’s
President Dr. Naseem Shekhani stressed
on need for Medical English- Urdu
dictionary and thanked Memon Medical Institute of Karachi who gave logistic
help in making this possible.
National Health Forum (NHF) is a
non-profit organization based in St. Louis, Missouri USA and has been involved
in Koohi Goth Hospital and will be
working with Pakistan National Wom-
en’s Health Forum for the distribution of
these dictionaries throughout Pakistan.
This dictionary will also be launched on
NHF’s website in January of 2011.
NFH DONATES
COMPUTER
SYSTEM TO JPMA
N
ational Health Forum, Inc. met
with Editor in chief of Journal of
Pakistan Medical Association; commonly known as JPMA and is the only
indexed Journal of Pakistan. Computer
system was 10 years old and not fast
enough to do the job in recent times. A
new faster system along with peripheral
and laser printer was donated. Dr. Mirza
Ali Azhar, Secretary of PMA Central,
Dr. Habib Soomro Secretary and Dr.
Naseem Shekhani, President of NHF
was present in the meeting where a detail
discussion was carried out to help JPMA
and encourage Pakistani researchers to
publish their work.
ne-day medical camp was organized
on December 28th 2010 by Pakistan
Medical Association (PMA) physician’s
along with Students from Dow Medical
College and Sindh Medical College. The
team arrived at Halaji Lake early morning. Quick set up was done and physicians
start seeing patients with the help of Medical students. The most common ailment
seen was malnutrition. Medical students
were given a run down about the area and
as patients were seen there was a marathon
organized by PMA. Dr. Badar Siddiqui
former President of PMA distributed the
prizes and oversaw the camp along with
Dr. Shershah Syed. Dr. Naseem Shekhani
from National Health Forum, USA spoke
on this occasion and emphasized on need
to promote preventive care.
SINDH MEDICAL COLLEGE
ANNOUNCED TO BE GIVEN
UNIVERSITY STATUS
A
s Sindh province has four medical universities, President Zardari
with his executive order announced
Sindh Medical College to the status of a
university in December 2010 and Jinnah
Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC),
the National Institute of Cardiovascular
Dis-eases (NICVD) and the National
Institute of Child Health (NICH) as its
affiliated hospitals.
Decision was made mostly on political grounds without any feasibility report
or audit to see the viability of University.
As one institution becomes a university
millions of rupees are poured in by the
Higher Education Commission (HEC).
HEPATITIS
“C”
IN
PAKISTAN
(update inside)
2
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Tanveer Imam
EDITOR
Amin Gadit
Rizwan Ali
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
Raheel R. Khan
Mujeeb-ur Rehman
Muslim Jami
Anwar Masood
Junaid Syed
Salma Haider Khan
Naushad Mohydin
Mansoor Abidi
Naseem Shekhani
ARTICLE SUBMISSION
We encourage every reader
to send articles throughout
the year on healthcare
issues in Pakistan and the
U.S. Articles can be emailed
as text or in MS Word format
to nationalhealthforum
@gmail.com. The Editor
reserves the right to edit
content of all articles that
are submitted.
FOR ADVERTISEMENTS
For advertisement
rates, submission and
schedule please email
[email protected]
DISCLAIMER
Health Beat, the NHF
newsletter, is a bi-monthly
newsletter and provides
health information to
its readers. The views
expressed are those
of authors and do not
necessarily represent the
official position of either the
editor or the editorial board.
NATIONAL HEALTH
FORUM
PO BOX 240093
Ballwin, MO 63024
March 2011 Issue
HealthBeat
Opinion Editorial
The Psyche of Death
By Dr. Amin A. Muhammad Gadit
D
eath by simple definition is just “the end of
life”. All human beings are destined to die
one day as per their “predetermined time” from
the moment of their birth. There are a number
of factors that influence the longevity and the
period of life that an individual will have at their
disposal. The causes of death range from the
deterioration from the old age, illness, accidents,
homicides, to perhaps extreme psychological distress. Death occurs when respiration and heart
cease to function but it is said that spirit remains
in a body for at least a short while. It is sometimes called “twin sister of sleep” as during sleep
there is a temporary black-out but heart continues to functions whereas in death the systems
of body cease to function. Every individual’s
cloak has been set by nature or a divine entity
and when the time is right, the individual cease
to exist. To date, it has not been determined
by scientists as what triggers death irrespective
of its causes. Estimation of life expectancy at
birth is determined globally based on a number
of factors. There are some computer programs
that can also calculate the approximate time of
death. This calculation method is sometimes
called “Death Meter”. A number of questions are
asked revolving around the current life style with
specific inquiry related to country of residence,
tobacco exposure, alcohol consumption, unprotected sex and intravenous drug usage. The other
questions relate to dental hygiene, exposure to
sun, physical exercise, any medical illness like
hypertension, cardiac ailment, cancer, diabetes,
liver disease etc. Dietary habits like frequency of
eating processed food, consumption of poultry,
meat or fish and the way it was cooked, percentage of fruits and vegetable consumption, taking
multivitamin supplements, exposure to air pollution, family history of chronic diseases, amount
of stress in life and longevity of parents and
grandparents. This calculation would exclude
the possibility of accidental deaths. There are
a number of views about the concept of death
among different religious groups, some believe
in one life on earth and eternal life after death,
there is also a belief about reincarnation and
multiple lives on earth. For Hindus, when lessons of this life have been learned, the soul leaves
the physical body, which then returns its elements to the earth. The awareness, will, memory
and intelligence which we think of ourselves
continue to exist in the soul body.
There are a number of rituals that are performed
after death of an individual by relatives in almost
all cultures and religions with the possible concept of relieving the dead body spiritually from
this world. The most intriguing aspect is the
triggering factor that would initiate death and
the predetermined timing as if a clock running
out of battery. There are a number of hypotheses: is the death time programmed in genetics? Is
there a “Trigger Factor” in the form of a chemical that is released in the body affecting the
cardiac rhythmicity? Is there a factor responsible
for body deterioration culminating in cessation
of function that remains unidentified until death
time? Can timing of death be altered by maintenance of body by virtue of early identification of
pathologies, appropriate nutrition and exercise?
Does psyche play an important role in preventing death or prolonging life? A number of people
get the intuition about their impending death. Is
there any brain centre or area that harbors this
“death time” memory that warn some people
about the possible time of their death? Does
the near-death experiences with autoscopy in
particular give any insight in this regard?
Scientists are struggling to find the triggering
factor that initiate death. If this factor is found,
can death be prevented? Like a number of unanswered queries and mysteries, this issue remains
to be unfolded albeit in a scientific manner.
Dr. Amin A. Muhammad Gadit,
Professor of Psychiatry, Memorial University of
Newfoundland, Canada
HealthBeat
3
Pakistan’s Unfinished Fight: The Enduring Conflict between Mismanagement and Poverty.
An Endeavour That Has A Way to Heal,
Not A Way That Wounds
By Arif Omer Ismail, MD, MBA, MS, PhD
D
iplomats, aid workers, NJO employees, in Pakistan sport a
frightening kind of paper–napkin mathematics these days.
They frequently discuss how their host country will get through
without declaring itself bankrupt IN 2011: the external debt stands
at $53-billion, add to it the debt servicing costs of $3 billion a year,
minus the $1.8-billion that won’t arrive, as scheduled on Jan. 1 from
the IMF because the country did not meet loan conditions. Add
the staggering cost, perhaps $10-billion, of rebuilding after summer
floods.
The numbers seem hopeless; particularly when the government
floated the possibility in December of 2010, of running a deficit of
$15-billion for the coming year – a poorly managed country angling
prospects of an elephantine deficit – thereby perpetuating another
cycle of perpetual poverty.
In economics the “cycle of poverty” has been defined as a “set of
factors or events by which poverty, once started, is likely to continue. Hence poverty-stricken individuals experience disadvantages
as a result of their poverty, which in turn increases their poverty.
This would mean that the poor remain poor throughout their lives.
This cycle has also been referred to as a “pattern” of behaviors and
situations which cannot easily be changed. Many causes have been
attributed to the conditions of the poor e.g., the governmental corruptions, lack of education, poor health conditions, are in fact both
cause and effect of poverty. Poor people do not have the resources
necessary to get out of poverty, such as financial capital, education,
connections or govern-mental support.
The Economist London of recent date posed a question for its
readers: How many of every 1,000 Pakistani citizens pay tax on
their incomes – 711, 511, 311, or 11?
Not surprisingly, the correct answer is of course “11!” Indubitably Pakistan’s fiscal troubles are antediluvian. It is one of the most
lightly taxed countries in the world. Fewer than a quarter of the
country’s firms declare any taxable revenues, and as per foregoing quiz question only 11 out of every 1,000 of its citizens pay tax
on their incomes, according to the World Bank. As a result, tax
revenues amount to a mere 10% of country’s GDP. The Pak rupee
keeps tumbling and often times foreign-exchange reserves barely
cover three weeks’ worth of imports. Thanks largely to the Pakistani
diaspora whose remittances keep propping up the reserves from
dizzying depths. The foreign investment has ground to a trickle; the
Pakistan’s external debt requires servicing. Financially the country
is in a pickle. And if things bottom any further Pakistanis will quit
the currency, and scramble for dollarization of the economy instead.
The basic functions of a state are to provide security, efficient
institutions and capable administration. Though no one has found
a way to measure these things, one can still get an ballpark idea of a
state’s strength. There appears to be no end to public problems, poor
sanitation and unsafe drinking water. Malnutrition and parasitic infections, air pollution and smoking related issues. The diseases that
obstinately persist like malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, influenza
and those that threaten to break out and wreak havoc, and mala-
dies that we think have gone away but still linger e.g. polio. Viruses,
bacteria, even simple misfortunes seem to have unlimited resources.
Paradoxically governments, aid organizations, and public health
specialists do not. So how anything could “good” be accomplished
to break this vicious recurring cycle in a country where +31 percent
of population lives below the poverty line of $1 a day?
One does not require sceptics to tell that life is complicated process. And the romantic in every citizen of the state yearns for a new
order to sweep aside the impediments of the old. Both arguments
have strengths, but the foregoing state of affairs imposes a dispassionate calculus at the nitty-gritty of the basic question. It has been
incontrovertibly proved that low-income countries do not have to
wait to be-come wealthy to become healthier. Period.
The most cost-effective health care “best-buy” solutions can be as
simple and inexpensive as advising people at risk of heart disease to
take an aspirin a day, and teaching mothers to keep their newborns
clean and warm. Among the many surprising findings: A newborn
can be resuscitated with a self-inflating bag that costs as little as
$5 in developing countries, and the bag can be reused an infinite
number of times.
1.Vaccinate children against major childhood diseases, including tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus,
polio, and measles (the traditional expanded program of
immunization).
2.Monitor children’s health to prevent or, if necessary, treat
child-hood pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria.
3.Tax tobacco products to increase consumers’ costs by at
least one-third and reduce cases of cardiovascular disease,
cancer, and respiratory disease
4.Prevent the spread of HIV through a coordinated approach that includes: promoting 100 percent condom use
among populations at high risk of infection; treating other
sexually transmitted infections; providing antiretroviral
medications to pregnant women; and offering voluntary
HIV counseling and testing.
5.Give children and pregnant women essential nutrients,
including vitamin A, iron, and iodine, to prevent maternal
anemia, infant deaths, and long-term health problems.
6.Provide insecticide-treated bed nets, household spraying of
insecticides, and preventive treatment for pregnant women
to drastically reduce malaria in areas where it is endemic.
7.Enforce traffic regulations and install speed bumps at
dangerous intersections to reduce traffic-related injuries.
8.Treat tuberculosis patients with short-course chemotherapy to cure infected people and prevent new infections
9.Teach mothers and train birth attendants to keep newborns warm and clean to reduce illness and death.
10.Promote the use of aspirin and other inexpensive drugs to
prevent and treat heart attack and stroke.
(Continued on page 6)
4
HealthBeat
Our achievements through your generous support…
NHF’S ANNUAL REPORT 2010
By Tanveer Imam
N
ational Health Forum was formed a few years ago with
the idea of organizing medical relief in Pakistan through
the generous contributions of our donors. Many among us were
donating their charitable contributions to various institutions and
charities on their own and sporadically. We formed a non-profit
organization to bring all such contributors under an umbrella and
to better channelize their efforts. Keeping up on our track record,
2011 superseded the efforts of previous years. This year we disbursed over $170,000. A record spending by the organization thus
far!
Some of our activities and achievements of the year 2010 are
highlighted below:
• N
ational Health Forum collaborated with Pakistan National Forum on Women’s Health to print 10,000 copies of
English-Urdu Medical Dictionary. The aim of the dictionary was to aid the midwives and paramedical staff to learn
and understand medical terminology. This dictionary was
proudly launched on December 31st, 2010 in a grand ceremony held at PMA House in Karachi.
• P
akistan was hit by catastrophic flooding in 2010, which
inundated 3.2millions hectares of land and displaced over 17
million people. NHF contributed over $100,000 and helped
PMA establish 32 medical relief camps in the flood af-fected
rural Sind and Baluchistan. These camps treated ailments
such as dysentery and skin diseases caused by the direct
affect of the murky waters as well as many gynecology and
obstetric cases which needed immediate attention.
• I n conjunction with providing medical care to the flood affected population, we helped in providing water purification
units to the area. These units are easy to use and can purify
55 gallons of water per hour. Communities of Kentucky and
New Jersey donated over 72 such units.
• N
ational Health Forum funded a computer laboratory for
the midwifery school affiliated with Qatar General Hospital in Orangi, Karachi. A total of 10 desktop computers,
printers and fax machines were donated to the school. The
long-term goal is to teach nursing and midwifery students
the use of various software applications and to collect and
archive data. Our team visited the school in December 2010
and found that the computers were put to use as planned.
• N
HF assisted graduates of Dow Class of 1982 establish a 12
bed Medical ICU at Civil Hospital Karachi. The Government of Sind has designated this project as the first Intensive
Care Unit and will provide funds for employing para-medical staff to run the unit.
• O
ur organization is also helping SINA Health and Education Foundation run a walk-in charity clinic in a poor
locality of Karachi. The graduates of Dow Class of 1976 are
actively involved in this project. Dr. Abid Nisar is the liaison
of the foundation in U.S.A.
• W
e have continued our relentless support of Koohi Goth
Women’s Hospital, Children Cancer Hospital and Memon
Medical Institute. We inspected these facilities in December
2010 and met with the respective chief executives of these
hospitals to obtain a first hand information about the progress of these hospitals.
• W
e are proud to say that we have been able to publish and
circulate our quarterly newsletter “Health Beat” in a timely
fashion for the last 3 years. The objective of the newsletter is
to keep our generous donors abreast of the progress of the
various projects they have donated their monies.
In the end we pledge to continue our efforts to provide medical
relief for the needy. In doing so we intend to adopt complete transparency of our accounts. We review IRS regulations on a regular
basis to ensure compliance and maintain our tax-exempt status.
We thank our donors for their continued support and encouragement.
BALANCE SHEET
National Health Forum 2010
INCOME
Opening balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $16,511.31
Contributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $157,393.98
TOTAL INCOME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $173,905.29
TOTAL EXPENSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $170,347.41
Closing balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,557.88
EXPENSES
Pakistan National Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $61,650.00
Pakistan Medical Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $59,500.00
Health and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,900.00
Goth Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $16,000.00
Memon Medical Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,500.00
Children Cancer Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,500.00
Edge Outreach water purification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,500.00
Dictionary launch and Misc expense Karachi . . . . . $750.00
Lawyer fee for APPNA St. Louis Clinic . . . . . . . . $1,000.00
Bank Charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $474.00
Donor appreciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,250.00
Printing and advertisement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10,786.59
Post office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,386.82
CPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $750.00
Secretarial work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $400.00
TOTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $170,347.41
HealthBeat
5
The Floods Had A Silver Lining
An Interview With Dr. Nighat Shah, Secretary Of Pakistan Society Of Ob-Gyn
By Faras Ghani
T
he floods that hit Pakistan affected over
18 million human beings, killed over
200,000 herd of livestock and submerged 17
million acres of Pakistan’s most fertile crop. It
left millions homeless, and even more reeling
in its aftermath.
Despite the barrel after barrel of atrocities,
the floods came with a silver lining - a term
unimaginable - according to Dr Nighat Shah,
Dr. Nighat Shah
an obstetrician whose work towards specialization was cut short by the surge of the rivers.
Working at Aga Khan University Hospital as well as various
other places, taking part in research, student activities and undergraduate research to keep herself taking on a challenge on a daily
basis, the influx of the waters has given her enough to keep her
occupied - physically and mentally - for a long time.
“I wanted to specialize but because of the floods, I was converted into a community person,” said Dr. Shah. “There’s a type of
magnetism, an attraction, that makes me run towards the community and I can’t resist that.”
Representing the Society of Obstetrician and Gynecologists,
Dr. Shah and her colleagues extended their helping hands to the
women in desperate need of care after the floods hit. Coming up to
the needs of the disaster stricken Pakistan, according to her, was a
very big challenge and keeping that in mind, they acted quickly.
“We started our meetings after the floods had started in
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and in Punjab. We told our colleagues
up north to get their doctors to reach out to the affected people,
especially pregnant women, and help them. In the whole tragedy,
and even the rescue and relief operations, they were the ones being
missed out.”
The situation, according to Dr. Shah, looked very grim. Camps
were overflowing and women that they came across had not had
proper deliveries in their life. Keeping that in mind, the Society
set out for Khaipur that was hosting over 200,000 IDPs. But with
limited financial aid, most of the relief goods were brought from
the PMA that included winter bags and rations for the displaced
families that had arrived in the camps.
“We called in around 100 midwives and two were assigned
to each camp. They were doing low-risk deliveries on-site while
hi-risk ones were done at places we had identified and we had our
own doctors. Complicated issues, that would not have seen the
light of the day, were operated upon successfully and women, who
had no chance of availing proper medical care, were in the hands of
experienced doctors.”
Pakistan’s population has very high mortality indicators and
given the state the women from small villages and facilities provided to them in the past, as the floods, according to Dr. Shah, had
a silver lining to the whole situation.
“These women, who would have never delivered in hospitals,
never had or
Atta mari Sikri Village, Jacobabad
would have had
institutional care,
they were safe and
their babies were
safe. In Khairpur
alone we did over
4,000 deliveries
with one just one
reported mortality. We had
patients who were
having their 18th
pregnancy and they were saved due to the care given to them. Their
physical state was poor, weakness levels were high and they were
dehydrated. They were bones and skin and this was from before
we got there so you can imagine the state they live in under normal
circumstances.”
The floods had a ravaging effect throughout. The whole education system was crippled and shut down. There were limited
resources and the government was spending on food. Its main
aim was to ensure that every camp and every IDP had food. Basic
resources arrived from elsewhere.
“We reached out to the local authorities and got the local
doctors’ holidays cancelled and got them to come in and help out.
We even got teachers to teach in the camps and that allowed the
displaced individuals to avail education, something they did not
have access to prior to the floods.”
As the politicians spoke, planned, argued and share their
sympathy on television, the doctors worked overtime. “I’m not
sure how much we were able to give to the people but we learnt
a lot from the whole episode. We realized how different things
are when you reach out to patients instead of sitting in clinics or
lounges.”
Khairpur band Village
6
HealthBeat
Hasan Afroze camp.
The Society also availed this opportunity to roll out a family
planning programme at the camps. There were discussions going
on with patients that arrived for delivery, they were told of benefits
and hazards and, according to Dr. Shah, talks were given on “free
choice”. “Couples who wanted to have more kids, we assisted them
as well.”
The contraception rate in Pakistan, as the Society put it, is 30%
and taking out the permanent method, it spirals down to just 15%.
“While traffic accidents are the commonest cause of death
in 14-45 year olds abroad, pregnancy is the main reason here in
Pakistan. There are over 60% women not wishing for a child right
now and even if they have one or two, they want a gap. However,
they don’t know the methods and that is where we stepped in and
helped.”
The society often sees talks of contraception as unwanted but
as Dr. Shah put it, the impression that people did not want to use
contraception was a myth broken.
“We had people fighting over contraceptives in the camp so that
was a welcome sight.
Thari Marwi Camp
“Women know and understand their health issues. It’s the
health care providers that are missing in action and instead of sitting in hotels and talking big, we should all head to where the need
is.”
With the camps, operations and relief process ongoing, and
while thousands still reel from the agony hurled upon them
Halaji camp
with the gushing waters, there are many sitting relieved for they
know that despite the atrocity, the silver lining gave them hope in
troubled times.
Razi Dero Camp, Khairpur
(Continued from Page 3 – Arif Omer Ismail’s article)
REFERENCES:
1. Economist London January 13, 2011 - as seen on 05, 2011 ~ http://
www.economist.com/diversions/quiz.cfm?
2. Laxminarayan Ramanan and Ashford Lori: Using Evidence
About “Best Buys” to Advance Global Health Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health The
World Bank World Health Organization Population Refer-
ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Faras Ghani is a free lance writer
and has earned Journalism degree from Manchester, England and
has worked with daily Dawn, and Cricinfo and now working with
Express News. Recently Faras Ghani has written a book “Champions Again” on 20/20 cricket.
ence Bureau | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation www.dcp2.org
August 2008.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Arif Omer Ismail is a graduated from Dow Medical College, Pakistan in 1978. Dr. Arif Omer
Ismail has earned his Masters and PhD and is a research Scientist
working on genome project in Canada. Dr. Ismail is a regular
contributor to London Economics
HealthBeat
7
SCIPPER PROGRAM
SERVE OUR CIVIL
HOSPITAL
By Zeba Fatima Vanek
I
n 2005, northern Pakistan was devastated
by one of the worst earthquakes in recent
times. More than 80,000 people were killed,
another 100,000 or so, injured and millions
became homeless in the Himalayan terrain.
The World Health Organization reported
that 667 people sustained vertebral crush injuries, spinal cord trauma, paralyses and loss of
control of their bladder and bowel functions.
These survivors were mostly young women and children, who had
become trapped under the rubble in their homes and schools.
I am a Dow Medical College graduate and neurologist living in
Los Angeles who travelled to Pakistan with two colleagues, Susan
Esqueta and Dr. Sofia Janjua, to join the relief efforts. During our
trip we saw numerous survivors who had sustained spinal cord injuries. They were helpless, scared and uncertain about their future
after having lost their homes, family and control of their bodies. A
volunteer driven initiative called “The Spinal Cord Injury Project
for Pakistan Earthquake Rehabilitation
(SCIPPER)” was
started to rehabilitate
these survivors.
The objective
of SCIPPER is to
rehabilitate these
disabled survivors by
addressing their basic
medical, housing, vocational and psychoKohistan Clinic reached via Helicopter
social needs, with
all their legal, civil
and human rights
secured, so that they
can again lead lives of
dignity and independence and become
productive members
of society.
By Najwa Jamal
S
.O.C. H. that started as a facebook
conversation among a group of medical
students has now evolved into an organization
registered by the local government, backed by the Dow University
of Health Sciences and supported by al-most everyone who comes
across this impressive and well needed initiative of the Dowites
2014.
S.O.C.H, Serve Our Civil Hospital, is an Awareness and
Clean up campaign, aiming at an infection free environment for
the Civil Hospital, Karachi. With the Vice Chancellor DUHS,
Professor Masood Hameed as the patron in chief and the Principal Dow Medical College, Professor Junaid Ashraf as Patron,
SOCH has begun its pilot project at Gynecology Unit 1 by resolving the water shortage is-sues, massive cleaning of the ward,
hiring full time sweepers and operating workshops for general
awareness of the patients, attendees, paramedics and other nonmedical staff. Currently operating on limited donations but endless energy, the team of SOCH is hoping to extend its services to
other wards too. You can visit their website www.soch.net.pk for
further information.
SOCH TEAM
Top Row (left to right): Sidra Mumtaz, Nida Zaidi, Maria
Shoaib, Shaikh Hamiz Ul Fawad (Executive Vice President), Gulrayz Ahmed (President), Mohammad Nadir Haider (Treasurer),
Mohammad Aslam, Mohammad Muslim Noorani, Mohammad
Farhan Khaliq, Danish Saleem.
Bottom Row (left to right): Hira Binte Farrukh, Tooba Baqai
(Senior Vice President), Maria Abid and Amna Shaikh, Maimoona Batool, Sidra Tariq, Anum Saleem, Arsala Fatima. Raza
Mehmood (General Secretary) and Hira Ahmad (Joint Secretary)
are missing from the picture.
Paraplegic women living in an Islamabad government
facility
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION VISIT
www.scipper.org
A disabled friendly home built with a ramp
Spinal cord injured
patient at a Balakot
Rural Clinic
8
HealthBeat
HEPATITIS AWARENESS
PROGRAM LAUNCH BY
APPNA IN PAKISTAN
By Maqbool Arshad
I
n an evening in November I turned on Geo News channel and
saw a story about medical waste from Karachi hospitals being
taken to an industrial site where laborers with bare hands were
submerged in big dirty pools were washing plastic tubings, plastic
bags, cannulas and other medical equipment and later sorting and
packaging to be shipped up country.
The workers had no clue if there was any thing wrong what was
transpiring but the reporter knew that something really wrong
is taking place which would jeopardize health of many. He then
interviewed a few medical related experts who informed him of
the serious health risks such businesses were exposing patients to.
I was appalled to see this and thus my journey started. I started to
inquire about the hospital waste and found that Pakistan does not
have any clear laws how to handle medical waste. Consequently
there is an illegal and immoral industry which is playing havoc
with the health of the nation.
In my further inquiry I found the scary information of Hepatitis C epidemic which is infecting millions and may soon overwhelm Pakistan’s woefully limited hospital capacity. This all was
the direct result of reuse of needles, dialysis kits, cardiac bypass
kits and intravenous bags and tubing of all kinds which are reused
and repackaged.
I wrote to Professor Saeed Sadiq Hamid at Agha Khan
Hospital who I had known while at boarding school and at King
Edward, gave me further shocking news of their findings in the
Landhi area where the incidence was as high as 23.6 %. The causes
of Hepatitis C infection were multiple including a very high incidence of intramuscular injections, shaving by barbers with infected
blades, caesarian section surgeries in childbearing age mothers and
unscreened blood transfusions.
This was quite distressing so I decided to do something about
it, although being a pulmonologist this was not my primary field
but it was a public health issue with gross neglect by health care
providers and lack of health care legislation. I talked to a few
friends of mine in the civil society, Dr. Amjad Saqib who is the
founder of a bank which is lifting thousands out of abject poverty
and a few members of the legislature in Lahore.
DONATE, PAY PAL
AVAILABLE.
www.nhfus.org
National Health Forum
PO Box 240093
St. Louis, MO 63024
I decided my trip to Lahore for APPNA winter meeting as a
fact finding mission. I arranged a meeting in Lahore gymkhana
with APPNA delegates and the professionals in Lahore who knew
about the horrible ground realities of medical waste recycling,
hepatitis C’s epidemic which the authorities were refusing to
acknowledge and a few legislature from Lahore.
This was an eye opener for all of us. We decided with the determination of Dr. Manzoor Tariq that we will try to do what we
can to make awareness of the innocent victims of this epidemic our
priority as we help Pakistanis to confront this menace.
Thus this initiative against Hepatitis C came into being. We
are working to assist Pakistanis to face up to this challenge with
a multi pronged approach to stop this multi-headed monster. We
will publish information and use mass communication to get the
prevention message to the public and caregivers.
HEPATITIS INITIATIVE BY
APPNA SWDRC
At present, 6-8 % of the rural population and12-24 % of urban
and suburban population in Pakistan is infected with Hepatitis
C. Prevalent widespread unsafe health care practices are causing
worsening of the Hepatitis C infection rate. Current estimates
put around 18 million people having been exposed to Hep C and
about 44 % of these individuals (8-9 million) are actively infected.
In all metropolitan hospitals, almost half of the patients in medical
wards are being admitted with complications of end-stage liver disease, such as cirrhosis of liver, bleeding esophageal varices or frank
hepatic failure. Not unexpectedly, all medical facilities in Pakistan
will soon be overwhelmed if this state of affairs continued.
As physicians with roots in Pakistan, we are all well aware of
the unfortunate epidemic of Hepatitis C in Pakistan. The incidence of Hepatitis C continues to rise steadily despite various attempts to curb its spread. A task force was formed by Dr. Manzoor
Tariq, President of Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent
of North America (APPNA) suggested by Dr. Aisha Zafar,
Chairperson of Social Welfare and Disaster Relief Committee
of APPNA under the leadership of Dr. Maqbool Arshad. Dr.
Mohammed Nadeem, a Dowite from Wisconsin and supporter of
NHF is coordinator of this awareness program.