Exemplary facilities

Last week I described the general functioning of the Saylani Trust, Karachi – a welfare organisation par excellence. This week I would like to describe in greater detail some of the many facilities provided by them.Since it is often difficult for middle class and poor people to afford medical treatment, the Saylani Trust is helping them in the following way: mobile units are in operation to go to the poor localities of Karachi to inform the people about health problems, precautions and treatment; medical and diagnostic centres have been established in many localities; the main Medical and Diagnostic Centre is located in the headquarters of the Saylani Trust at Bahadurabad in Karachi, where assistance is provided to hundreds of people every day.The Medical and Diagnostic Centre provides, amongst others, the following facilities and patients are treated free of cost: an OPD where all patients with common ailments are treated and, if necessary, referred to specialists. Expert consultants to take care of cases referred to them. Ophthalmology dealing with eye ailments – an eye operation normally costs between Rs5,000 and Rs10,000 but here they are treated free of charge. Full dental treatment is provided; the gynecology department provides all required treatment as well as pre- and post-natal care, with free medicines.All cardiac tests are provided while financial assistance can also be given. Since hepatitis is becoming more and more common with expensive treatment requirements, the trust provides full financial assistance for treatment, including costly injections. Furthermore, almost 10,000 people are vaccinated every month to protect them from this painful disease. Diagnostic tests are an essential part of medical treatment. For quick and reliable tests, the trust has established a state-of-the-art laboratory where qualified staff is available to run and analyse tests.Digital X-ray machines are available for all possible eventualities and quick diagnoses, and preventive vaccinations against TB, hepatitis, polio, etc are administered free of charge to children ranging in age from infancy to the age of 5. Thalasaemia patients are provided blood from the state-of-the-art blood bank and other treatments are also available. About 200 patients receive regular treatment here at a cost to the hospital of about Rs20,000 per child per month.In addition to free treatment at their own hospital, the Saylani Trust can also, upon request, provide financial assistance to the sick in government hospitals while also providing medicines, wheelchairs, stretchers, etc. Besides the usual hospital departments, specialised units have also been established. The Saylani Trust provides free treatment to all, irrespective of status and without any discrimination. To this end, a Health Information Computerized System was started in 2010 which is now a full-fledged system. This saves out on a lot of paper work and all patient information can be retrieved at the touch of a key.The Saylani Mass IT Training Centre (SMIT), established in 2013, was set up with the sole purpose of providing modern technologies to the young generation. Thousands of students are benefitting from this centre and have been facilitated in earning their own livelihood. The trust’s aim is to train 100,000 students; so far 4,000 are under training. Students are being trained in Javascript, React Native, Android application, IOS development, artificial intelligence, clonal computing and other related technologies. Microsoft and Gerry’s, CISCO are partners in these programmes.SMIT was declared the ‘fastest growing institute’ and rewarded as such by CISCO. In 2018, NIC arranged a competition – the Civic Tech Hackathon – in which Saylani, Microsoft and Ignite participated. Out of the five top winners, three belonged to Saylani. In Islamabad, Telenor, Saylani and Microsoft organised a Civic Tech Hackfest and Saylani students won two out of the three top positions. In another competition held in Lahore, of all the students from 189 institutions participating, a Saylani student from SMIT won first position.Saylani has also started a MOS Microsoft Certified Course in which thousands of students are participating. Recently, a programme was held at PIAIC (inaugurated by President Dr Arif Alvi) in which Saylani Trust is a strategic partner. More than 30,000 students have been enrolled in the first batch. On January 20, 2019 a test was held at the Abdus Satter Edhi Stadium. There were thousands of female and male students; successful candidates will be taught Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing and Block Chain.All this has been possible with the support of local philanthropists. Join Saylani in making Pakistan educated, self-reliant and prosperous!Email: dr.a.quadeer.khan@gmail.com

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