PAD honours 200 volunteers for helping needy patients

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Dubai - The medical wing of Pad has served over 25,000 patients in almost 120 free medical camps since 2009.

By Saman Haziq

Published: Wed 19 Feb 2020, 1:23 PM

Last updated: Wed 19 Feb 2020, 3:29 PM

The medical wing of Pakistan Association Dubai recently honoured around 200 healthcare professionals and general volunteers for providing their services, effort and time to the needy by being part of the free medical camp it ran every month from 2009 until 2019.
These included 72 healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, paramedics and 129 general volunteers who were felicitated by the ambassador of Pakistan to the UAE, Ghulam Dastgir, by being awarded commemorative shields and certificates at a ceremony held at Pakistan Association in Dubai.
The medical wing of Pad has served over 25,000 patients in almost 120 free medical camps since 2009, and the regular campaign is now transforming into the not-for-profit Pakistan Medical Centre, set to open this year before the holy month of Ramadan.
Highlighting the achievements of the medical wing of PAD since 2009, president of the medical wing Dr. Nighat Aftab said: "The journey of this camp began in 2009 when we decided to give back to the community by dedicating one day in a month to offer free consultations to those who may not have the money or means of going to hospitals. Gradually with the help of community members, what started as a small pool of just 10 doctors and eight volunteers, became big group of over 100 doctors and over 200 general volunteers including children as young as 14 years who helped in guiding the patients to the doctors, registering patients and giving them token numbers."
The medical camps were held on the last Friday of every month and included free consultations from doctors such as orthopaedic specialist, endoctrinologists, gynaecologists, internal medicine specialists, eye check-up with free glasses, dental check-up, urologist, dermatologists, paediatrician and general physician. Apart from offering free consultations, doctors at the camp adviced patients on various conditions and offered follow-up treatments at their respective clinics too.
Dr Nighat added that the camp's increasing popularity and the demand for follow-ups snowballed into the idea of making the service more permanent, in the form of a low-cost Pakistan Medical Centre which will be a true example of tolerance as it will be open to not only Pakistani patients but for people from all nationalities.
She also presented a video that narrated the story of how the medical wing began its journey from 2009 when very few doctors decided to do some welfare activity for community.
Housewife Naveen Mohatarem, who had been volunteering at the medical camp since 2017, said she was grateful to the organisers of the camp for giving her a chance to serve the society. " It was such a fulfilling experience and gave me a chance to meet people from different backgrounds and gain their blessings by helping them. I was always reminded of my parents when I saw old people come to the camp and I would serve them with even more dedication as it was a very rewarding experience. I am glad I got to make a good use of my time by getting a chance to serve so many different people to the best of my capacity. It truly was rewarding."
Currently the medical wing comprises more than 300 hundred licensed healthcare professionals. The activities started and maintained throughout the last 11 years, included regular monthly medical camps that managed 200-300 patients.
saman@khaleejtimes.com