This post is first in a series which describes the work we have done in the area of medicine and health care. In this part we describe the services provided in Dera Ghazi Khan, a rural district of southern Punjab.
For health care, we first worked on T.B disease that was identified as a major health problem by the medical superintendent of the area government. We tackled the problem of spread of T.B in the area by providing free 9 months treatment to T.B patients. Approximately 300 patients were cured of T.B in a period of 3 years. Detailed patient records were kept for this purpose.
The cost of this health care provision was approx 1.2 million rupees.
In the area of Health Care the organization holds Free Health Camps 4-5 times a year. Two kinds of camps are held:
a) Multipurpose Health Camps where some of the following specialist care is provided free of cost to people below the poverty line: General Medical, Gynecological, Obstetric, Pediatric, Heart, Eye, Kidney, Skin Specialists.
b) Eye Camps- We have a team of Eye-specialists who hold 2-3 eye camps a year in and around the major village of Choti Zarin providing free treatment of all sorts of eye-problems. During these preliminary camps the patients who are ready for cataract surgery are selected and a major Eye-Camp is held to operate and remove cataracts. Medicines, lenses for the cataract operations and eye-glasses are provided free of cost.
Cataracts are a major eye-problem in this dust-ridden, high U.V ray exposure geographical location of Pakistan. Recently, our organization bought its own Operation Microscope for performing maximum number of cataract operations, thanks to a donation by our organization.
List of all the basic health facilities provided by our organization:
Provision of Gynaecological and Obstetric check-ups and treatment
Provision of Paediatric check up and treatment free of cost.
Provision of 9-month treatment to T.B patients, free of cost.
Providing emergency treatment to deserving cases-free of cost.
Provision of treatment to patients in remote areas through holding Health Camps, free of cost.
Provision of treatment to patients with eye problem free of cost.
Cataract operations with good quality lenses, free of cost.
Provision of prescription glasses for vision, free of cost
Provision of family planning advice, and resources, free of cost.
Provision of specialist check-up and treatment such as Heart specialist, Skin specialist, E.N.T. Specialist etc. free of cost.
Training of govt. medical staff in the district in the area of mental health.
Provision of water–cooler to local Rural Health Centre.
Working as a liaison organization between the medical staff, District Health E.D.O, provincial and local govt to improve health services at rural level.
REGULAR ACTIVITES OF OUR ORGANIZATION IN DERA GHAZI KHAN
ANNUAL MULTI-PURPOSE FREE HEALTH AND EYE CAMP
We held our annual big Health Camp on the 16th and 17th of March. It was a multi-purpose camp
on the 16th of March 2006 with the following specialists available:
Rawalpindi Eye Donor Organization (REDO) had donated 100 good quality lenses, along with glasses and medicines for conducting cataract operations for poor patients. We are indebted to them for their continued support.
Last year, we donated an Operation Microscope, which helped to operate upon 80 cataract patients in 2005 with a success rate of 100%. The cost of the operations privately for 80 patients would be approximately 1.6 million rupees.
Number of Patients
The number of patients treated at this camp was approximately 3000. 1400 of these patients were eye-patients the rest were treated by the specialists mentioned above. It needs to be noted that medications worth approximately 300,000.00 were donated free of cost to the general patients.
We operated upon 120 cataract patients in the two days of the camp with the help of 6-8 eye-surgeons on 10 hour long shifts. The cost of 1 eye operation with a good quality lense costs approximately 20,000 rupees.
100% Success Rate of the Operations
All the patients were given two post-operative check-ups free of charge to ensure recovery. Dr. Javaid Iqbal andDr. Abdul Raheem, our teams’ two most faithful eye-surgeons voluntary work needs to be commended as they worked extremely hard to provide the best treatment for the patients under the circumstances. It is due to their and the whole voluntary eye-team’s diligence that, like last year, there was a 100% success rate of the operations. This means that all the patients recovered without complications and were able to have clear vision after near or complete blindness due to the cataract.
Dr Sajjad Sarwar, the General Secretary of our organization always manages to get wonderful donations in kind (loads of medicines) from various pharmaceutical companies. He is the moving spirit behind all the health camps in and around Choti. His organization skills are to be appreciated, as without his honorary help none of the camps could be successful.
Cost of the Eye-Operations
It is to be noted that to have one eye-operation done in the private sector with a good quality lense costs approximately 20,000 rupees. The cost of operating upon 120 patients is approximately Rs 2.4 million. Read more about costs below.
Cost Equivalent of Eye Operations
Year 2000: Rs 500,000.00 for operating upon 100 eye patients
Year 2001: Rs 600,000.00 for operating upon 100 eye patients
Year 2002: Rs 700,000.00 for operating upon 100 eye patients
Year 2003: Rs 800,000.00 for operating on 100 patients
Year 2004: Rs 640,000.00 for operating upon 50 eye patients
Year 2005: Rs 1.6 million for operating upon 80 eye patients
Year 2006: Rs 2.4 million for operating upon 120 eye patients
This post is second in a series which describes the work our organization has done in the area of medicine and health care. In Part 2 we describe the physical therapy services provided, especially for those impacted by the 2005 earthquake.
We supported efforts of Dr Amir Qureshi in establishing a physio-therapy and general clinic in an area of Lahore (Baghbanbura) where medical services availability is limited and cost is too high for the average resident. Here is a brief review of the services provided by this “Centre for Physical Rehabilitation” as narrated by its director Dr. Amir Qureshi.
We commenced operations on May 15, 2000 and you will be glad to know that now our patients come from all over town.
May 15, 2000 – December 31, 2000
General OPD – 689 (without charge patients)
Physio-therapy – 61 total patients, (6-8 sessions per patient) – 42 (subsidised) 19 (without charge)
January 1, 2001 – December 31, 2001
General OPD – 977 (without charge patients)
Physio-therapy – 117 total patients, (6-8 sessions per patient) - 75 (subsidised) 42 (without charge)
January 1, 2002 – December 31, 2002
General OPD – 1077 (without charge patients)
Physio-therapy – 138 total patients – 77 (subsidised) 61 (without charge)
(6-8 sessions per patient)
January 2003 to July 2004
our operations were limited due to renovation and reorganization.
General OPD – 427 (without charge patients)
July 2004 – March 2006
General OPD – 2,625 (without charge patients)
Physio-therapy – 528 total patients – 483 (subsidised) 45 (without charge)
(3,919 total sessions – 6-8 sessions per patient)
Please feel free to contact us through comments and tell others about this facility. We are happy to accept those in need.
Dr. Amir Z Qureshi , Director
Iftikhar Durrani, Physiotherapist
Centre for Physical Rehabilitation
16 Bilal Park, Singhpura Road
Lahore.