Fatima Memorial Hospital

Quality healthcare to patients from all walks of life without discrimination

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May 20, 2013

Update: Providing Iftar to Needy Patients

By Mr Ali Agha - Head, Department of Resource Mobilization

Title Image

Introduction

Ramadan is a time of spiritual reflection, self-improvement, increased devotion and worship to Allah for all Muslims. Charity and generosity is especially urged during Ramadan. The act of fasting makes us relate closely with the suffering of others, and it makes us remember the blessings of life which we normally take for granted. The fast begins at dawn and ends at sunset with the fast-breaking meal known as Iftar. This is a time of strengthening our
bonds with family, friends and surrounding community.

Fatima Memorial Hospital (FMH) shared this time of peace and harmony by providing Iftar to over 300 families of non-paying patients admitted at Fatima Memorial Hospital. The meal comprised of nutritional items such as
dates, fruits, juices, and a rice meal for dinner. This meal providing activity enabled us to stand by those families in times of distress and pain. The happiness experienced through this sharing is inconceivable.

The Hospital

Fatima Memorial is a Third Sector, Not for Profit, Non-Government Organization working in the field of Social Development, Health Care, Education, Research & Community Development. It is today one of Pakistan’s largest and oldest Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in the healthcare sector.

Fatima Memorial Hospital has an active Community Outreach Programme, registered with the Social Welfare Department as Anjuman Behbood-e-Niswan-O-Itfal (ABNI), which caters to the health, educational and vocational needs of men, women and children in the rural and peri-urban areas around Lahore. Initiated in 1985, by Fatima Memorial Hospital and partially supported by the Women’s Voluntary Service, this programme has provided medical relief to over half a million people. Focusing on communities such as Nainsukh, Malikpur, Lakhoder, and Talwara, where people often live without access to clean drinking water, sewerage, educational facilities, or health care, the team from Fatima Memorial Hospital is welcomed by the community members.[i]

Distinctively FMH has a 35 years record of selfless service to humanity, during which FMH has answered the silent cry of over 5.88 Million patients, out of which 85% were provided medication, diagnostic & surgical facilities, either free or at highly subsidized rates.

In the year 2011-12, free and subsidized health care worth more than Rs. 270 million was provided to deserving patients at the Fatima Memorial Hospital. The income generated from 15% of the private patients is used to cover the cost of treatment of the less privileged members of society.

Iftar to Families of Hospital Patients

Many Muslims believe that feeding someone Iftar is a form of charity and a very rewarding gesture. Indeed it was practiced by Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, (peace and blessings be upon him) himself as is evident from below Hadith:

Whoever offers meal to his/her Muslim
brother/sister at the time of iftar (the meal eaten by Muslims breaking their
fast after sunset during the month of Ramadan), s/he receives as much reward as
s/he has earned. Nothing becomes less of the reward of those s/he offered meal
to. (Tirmidhî, Sawm: 82; Ibn-i Majah, Siyam: 40)[ii]

It is very gratifying to feed people. Feeding a fasting person in particular is much more fruitful. Offering food to
people should be believed a blessing. It is declared in hadith-i sharifs:

The most virtuous of deeds is
to cover the fault of a Believer, to feed him, and to make him happy by meeting
a need of his. [Bayhaqi].

Most indoor patients under treatment at FMH have attendants (from family and friends) with them who look after them in addition to hospital staff deputed for their care. Through this project we provide Iftar to 850 fasting people who are attending to their loved ones admitted in our hospital yet are unable to afford a proper Iftar meal.

Our Mission Continues

To give you an idea of the size and volume of patients we are catering for free and subsidized rates we have
developed a pie chart below in figure 1. As you can see close to 1.42 Million patients have been treated for free. This is indeed a monumental achievement!

We continue to strive and struggle for such humanitarian acts. At the same time we are also thankful for your precious donations from the previous years that have made our dream possible. But alas this will all go to waste if we are not able to maintain our momentum.

So we request you to come forward and become a part of a noble deed. Your donations will go a long way towards the fulfillment of our collective mission. We need all the help we can get from socially responsible individuals like you to provide iftar to a person who otherwise couldn’t afford that. Your additional donations will mean a lot to us and
even more to the poor who will be at sooth because of such effort.

We have developed a pictorial collage to showcase the poor attendants with indoor patients.

References

[i]Fatima Memorial System,
Company Website: http://www.fmsystem.org/fms/index.php
accessed March 2013.

[ii] Quotations on Rewards
of Offering Iftar, Questions on Islam Website, http://www.questionsonislam.com/article/reward-offering-iftar,
accessed March 2013.

[iii] Providing Iftar to
Families of Hospital Patients, Report by Mehr Manzoor,
posted December 11^th, 2012 http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/iftar-meals-pakistan/updates/,
accessed March 2013.

figure 2

figure 1

Apr 29, 2013

April 2013 Update on Helping Arthritis Patients

By Ali Agha - Head, Resource Mobilization

Title Image

Introduction

Arthritis is often commonly referred to as a single disease. In fact, it is an collective term for more than 100
medical conditions that affect the musculoskeletal system, specifically joints where two or more bones meet.[[i]]

Arthritis-related problems include pain, stiffness, inflammation and damage to joint. This can result in joint weakness, instability and deformities that can interfere with the most basic daily tasks. This disease not only affects patients but their families also suffer.

Arthritis is the major cause of disability and chronic pain resulting in a substantial cost to the nation’s economy in terms of incurred medical costs and indirect costs such as loss of earnings and lost production.

As the population is increasing, the number of people with arthritis is also growing in Pakistan. It is a leading cause of disability in Pakistan and thousands suffer from this curable disease due to inadequacy of available treatments and lack of affordability by the general populace. Extra efforts are needed to reach out to the thousands in need. Unfortunately in Pakistan, there is an extreme shortage of Rheumatologists and consequently a lot of patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease, resulting in less remission, whereas an early diagnosis and treatment may result in total recovery.

ACF Foundation

Fatima Memorial Hospital (FMH) was established in 1977, as a non-profit 200 bedded hospital community hospital for women and children. Free Rheumatology clinics started in 1966 while a structured Rheumatology department
was set up in FMH in 2001. In the same year, free medication and consultancy to arthritis patients started.

The hospital is also the home to the Arthritis Care Foundation which provides Physiotherapy and Diagnostic supports to non-affording patients. On average 50 to 100 patients are provided free medicines every month.

Arthritis Care Foundation (ACF) as a collaborating partner with Fatima Memorial Hospital and is being run by a team of Rheumatologists and Philanthropist with the aim to establish, encourage, assist and support,medical social welfare and educational activities, pertaining to deserving or underprivileged patients, both adult and children, affected by arthritis and other related rheumatic diseases, regardless of their sex, religion, caste, or color, or creed.

The Arthritis Care Foundation generates funds for the following:

Provision of latest treatments, which are highly effective but expensive e.g. Biologic Therapies

Provision of artificial joints for all age groups ranging from children to the elderly

Establishing an endowment fund for providing scholarships to trainees in Rheumatology thereby addressing
the critical shortage of qualified rheumatologists in the country.

Through early diagnosis and advanced treatment methodologies by expert Rheumatologists, Arthritis Care Foundation significantly helps prevent disability and death in patients suffering from rheumatic diseases.

Arthritis Care Foundation in close synergy with Fatima Memorial has made special clinics for dealing with rheumatic diseases. One of the clinics “Akhtar Mubarik Referral Center” provides free Consultation services, diagnostics and medicines to deserving patients suffering from Rheumatic disorders. The service of Consultants, Medical Officers and Nursing Assistants and Physiotherapists are provided free of cost. From July 2011-12, a total of 22, 895 patients visited the Center while medicine worth Rs. 126, 869 was provided by Arthritis Care Foundation. [[i]]

As discussed, Pakistan faces a shortage of qualified rheumatologists for a population of 190 million. [[ii]] Fatima Memorial Hospital (FMH) is renowned for its leadership in Rheumatology treatment and is currently running one of the most respected Arthritis Centers in the country. Our consultants continuously rank with the top tier in the
entire country. In addition, FMH is continuously striving to deploy the latest technology and research for improving the quality of treatment for our patients. Rheumatology department is attached to Fatima Memorial Medical and Dental College (FMHM & D) and FMH. It is also affiliated with College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan for training of Post Graduate Medical Students.

The Life of Uzma

Global changes in the donor landscape have made it challenging for us to maintain the forward thrust and extensive operation we have managed historically. Non-availability of expert Rheumatologist coupled with spiraling cost of purchasing and servicing medical equipment, not to mention rising global energy prices, has severely challenged
our existing capabilities and infrastructure to the fullest measure.

We feel that such a cause should continue beyond servicing the local community of deserving poor patients such as women and children to include minorities and other ethnic groups as well. All this requires your funding to continue and grow further as we serve more and more patients.

This will only be possible through your understanding of the problems and complexities we face and the challenges that lie ahead. If you feel compassionate about our cause and want to make an impact on the lives of the people by giving them the gift of healthy life, free of pain and suffering, we request you to donate generously. Remember that disability seriously reduces a child’s chances of going to school and an adult’s of finding employment, and therefore increases poverty and dependence. This will not be the future of 5 year old Uzma pictured in figure 2 (attached), who has been treated successfully and now living a normal life free of pain and other joint complications. She is now going to school on a regular basis and her teachers report that she is doing well at school.

With your support there will be many happy Uzmas whose future can be changed permanently for generations to come.

It is not just girls like Uzma who have benefitted from our Center but a countless stream of people from all walks of life and sections of society.

Our Mission Continues

Figure 3- attached illustrates the numbers of various types and volumes of patient flow from 2011 to 2012. It is clear from the diagram below that ‘free outdoor patients general’ are leading with nearly 4,500 treated. This is indeed a monumental achievement!

We are going to continue our fight against this disease. At the same time we are also thankful for your precious donations from the previous years that have made our dream possible. But alas this will all go to waste if we are not able to maintain our momentum.

So we request you to come forward and become a part of this humanitarian movement to work towards the
shared goal of reducing this global silent killer known as Arthritis. Your donations will go a long way towards the fulfillment of our collective mission. We need all the help we can get from socially responsible individuals like you.
Your contributions will mean a lot to us and even more to the poor Arthritis patients whose lives will be positively changed forever by your gift.

References:

[i]National Rheumatology Society Pakistan, Few
Words on Arthritis, http://www.pakrheumatology.org/html/about_arthritis.html,
accessed on March 2013.

[[II]]
Arthritis Care Foundation, Project Report, http://www.arthritiscare.org.pk/index.php?menuid=14&pageid=12,
accessed on March 2013.

[iii] Helping
Arthritis Patients Fight Disability, Report by Mehr Manzoor, posted Dec. 4^th
2012, http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/helping-arthritis-patients-fight-disability/updates/,
accessed on March 2013.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Apr 22, 2013

Update: Providing New Clothes for EID to 1350...

By Ali Agha - Head, Resource Mobilization

Title Image

Created by Ali Agha, Head of Resource Mobilization at
Fatima Memorial Hospital

Introduction

Eid is a day of celebration and happiness for Muslims throughout the world. On this day, Muslims perform congregational prayer, celebrate their community and brotherhood, and wholeheartedly give charity to the poor and needy. Islamic teachings demand a commitment from every Muslim to work to ease the pain and suffering of orphans and the poor so they are not forgotten, especially on the day of Eid. The Holy Prophet of Islam (Peace
be upon Him) guided us to pay the ‘Sadqa-e-Fitr’ (donation of Fitr) before performing the Eid Prayer so that all Muslims remember their poor brothers on this /occasion and include them in their happiness. [I]

For all Muslims, especially children the occasion of Eid brings with it a sense of excitement and anticipation.
Naturally on such a grand occasion and in the spirit of Islamic tradition all Muslims wear new clothes and give gifts to each other.

But alas there are always some children who cannot have the luxury of new clothes on Eid. It is in this spirit that the
project for ‘Giving New Clothes’ was started so that these children do not feel isolated on such a blessed occasion. Fatima Memorial through this project has managed to help poor children of NUR Community Outreach Programs (NCOP) schools wear ‘new clothes’ on Eid. NCOP operates several schools in peri-urban areas Lahore (Pakistan) and provides free education, books and uniforms to underprivileged children. Over 7,000 children have been provided clothes through this program since inception.

Our Organization

Fatima Memorial Hospital has an active Community Outreach Programme run by NCOP. It is registered with the Social Welfare Department as Anjuman Behbood-e-Niswan-O-Itfal (ABNI), which caters to the health, educational and vocational needs of men, women and children in the rural and peri-urban areas around Lahore. Initiated in 1985, by Fatima Memorial Hospital and partially supported by the Women’s Voluntary Service, this programme has provided medical relief to over half a million people. NCOP remains focused on peri-urban communities such as Nainsukh, Malikpur, Lakhoder,and Talwara, where people often live without access to clean drinking water, sewerage, educational facilities and health care. [ii]

Project Details

This specific project has brought smiles on the faces of approximately 1,350 students currently studying in NCOP schools. It has now become a reliable source of happiness and joy for these target community children on Eid day
every year. Children at this age grow fast and quickly outgrow the clothing they have. Most kids that show up in front of the visiting project team show up with clothing clearly meant for younger children. When these partially clad
children are given new clothes, the immediate sparkle visible in their eyes is rather priceless. Very few things in the world can bring about greater satisfaction than the smile that comes to their faces when they see their Eid gifts.

Gifts are distributed among the parents of these children too. 200 Shalwar suits were distributed amongst mothers and fathers. Around 2,000 students received sweets, juices and biscuits to celebrate the festivities from last year.

This year NUR Foundation will not forget the children in its outreach schools who fall in flood affected areas of Dera Ghazi Khan (Central Pakistan) on this upcoming auspicious occasion of Eid. Your generous donations will help us spread the smiles on the faces of these children as well.

We have set high targets for ourselves in this endeavor as well. In addition to increasing the number of children
being provided new clothes, we plan to increase this number of animals to 20 altogether.

Our Mission Continues

Fatima Memorial Hospital plans to continue this tradition this year as well for upcoming Eid days around the time of mid-summer. Islamic tradition follows the lunar calendar rather than the solar so Islamic holidays are always sliding on the Gregorian scale. We are resolved in our commitment to continue to strive and struggle for the realization of such humanitarian acts of giving and charity. At the same time we are also thankful for your precious donations from the previous years that have made our dream possible.

In this success story what is most crucial is that we continue to maintain and grow from our initial thrust and enlarge the parameters of our serviced communities in terms of geographic area we serve and the number of lives we
touch.

So we request you to come forward and become a part of this noble deed. Your donations will go a long way
towards the fulfillment of our collective mission of giving joy to the destitute. Join us in this noble cause and multiply the happiness in as many young souls as possible.

References

[i] The True essence of Eid ul Fitar,
http://www.alahazrat.net/islam/the-true-essence-of-eid-ul-fitar.php, accessed
March, 2013.

[ii] Fatima Memorial System, Company Website: http://www.fmsystem.org/fms/index.php,
accessed March 2013.

[iii] Providing New Clothes for Eid to 1350 Poor Kids, Report by Mehr Manzoor, posted 23rd Nov,
2012, http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/new-eid-clothes-for-poor-kids/updates/,
accessed March, 2013.

Figure 1: FMH Team distributing Eid gifts

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