Great philanthropists

The country is in a mess; a high rate of inflation, unemployment, the absence of law and order, the absence of government writ, etc. The new chairman of the FBR, Mr Shabbar Zaidi, has advised traders not to indulge in business with smuggled goods as it is un-Islamic and deprives the government of hard-needed revenue.Despite the fact that there are so many dishonest people in the country, there are also thousands of people who selflessly help needy, impoverished families with food, clothing, medical care, education, etc.To name but a few, we have Maulvi Muhammad Bashir Farooqi, president of the Saylani Welfare Trust; Haji Hanif Tayyab of the Al-Mustafa Welfare Trust; Muhammad Ramzan Chippa of the Chippa Welfare Association; Dr Abdul Bari of Indus Hospital, etc. There are also many industrialists whom the Almighty has blessed with big philanthropic hearts and who are always willing to help the needy. Let us not forget to mention all those individuals who are not rich but nevertheless manage to contribute to charity in whatever way they are able.I would now like to introduce a dear friend and great humanist, Dr Khalilur Rehman, who has been in Saudi Arabia for decades. He and his kind-hearted friends thought of setting up a kidney centre in Abbottabad – the Pakistan Kidney Centre, KPC for short. Prof Dr Khaliquz Zaman, a well-known neurosurgeon, and I laid the foundation stone together in 2012. Recently, we were invited to a fund raising function at Islamabad Club where we were given first-hand information on the progress of the centre and the facilities and services provided.We all know that millions of people suffer from some degree of kidney failure in Pakistan, the worst form being complete kidney failure requiring the need for regular dialysis or kidney transplant. The Pakistani diaspora based in Jeddah has provided this life-saving treatment to an underserved and remote area of Pakistan.Under the umbrella of the Pakistan Welfare Society Trust (PWS), the foundation stone to PKC Abbottabad was laid in 2012. In 2015, with 14 dialysis machines, the centre started providing free dialysis to those who cannot afford this life saving treatment. In 2017, an outreach screening program to diagnose and treat major reasons for kidney failure was started in the Hazara region by conducting free medical camps on a periodic basis and thousands of patients are screened and treated. The construction of an operating theatre and a day procedure unit is underway as a second phase of the expansion programme.The Kidney Center, Abbottabad aspires to become a 50-bed hospital equipped with state-of-the art facilities to treat various kidney diseases, kidney transplants and to focus on preventative health, research and training. The mission of the centre reads: “To bring state of the art facilities for dialysis and treatment of kidney diseases for people of Pakistan, especially for the most deserving to save their lives and to help them to live near normal life.” Their vision is: “PKC aspires to become a center of excellence for diagnosis, treatment, prevention as well as research on kidney diseases in Pakistan.”We all know that medical care is very expensive and beyond the means of the majority of the population of Pakistan. In order to make it more effective and useful, PKC needs the following facilities, for which your assistance is requested. An operating theatre is already complete but an autoclave (cost Rs2.9 million) and medical gas equipment (cost Rs3.5 million) are still required. The current dialysis facility of 15 machines treats 40 patients every day. The cost of this life saving service is Rs40 million per year. It is all the more important because there is no other such facility available in the Hazara division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the adjacent area of Azad Kashmir or Gilgit-Baltistan.I herewith request well-to-do Pakistanis to help enable Dr Khalilur Rehman to purchase the required equipment and to assist in the cost of the daily running expenses so that state-of-the-art treatment can be provided to the needy. For more information, please go to www.pkc.com.pkMy colleagues and I are currently constructing a 300-bed welfare hospital in Lahore and we are very aware of how difficult it is to raise funds for a charity welfare organization. We have, in three years, been able to provide free medical treatment to more than 300,000 patients and have provided dialysis to hundreds of people suffering from kidney diseases.This has only been possible with the help and support of many Pakistanis. May the Almighty accept the efforts of all those working for the alleviation of the troubles of ailing humanity – Ameen.Email: dr.a.quadeer.khan@gmail.com

from The News International - Opinion http://bit.ly/30Ofa06