| Doc Tells of his Earthquake Relief Effort |
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9th November 2005
Issued: 9-Nov-2005 I have now returned from Pakistan having spent eight days there with my team providing medical assistance to the earthquake victims. I would firstly like to wholeheartedly thank World Islamic Mission Welfare Trust and Whipps Cross University Hospital in supporting me in my trip to Pakistan to help the earthquake victims. I would also like to thank Noor Ul Islam Trust in Leyton, Waltham Forest Muslim Burial Trust, Masjid-E-Ali (AS) in Luton and the Local Community for their support and donations for this cause. With the help of Mr Imran Abbasi of Whipps Cross Hospital acting as a coordinator, I was able to raise £18,500 and was also generously donated a substantial amount of essential drugs by the hospital. I departed for Pakistan on the 29th October. I led a team of two doctors and two paramedics. During our days there we were linked to the AMC Disaster Management Cell in Abbottabad and the World Islamic Mission Welfare Trust. We visited a number of towns/villages including Abbottabad, Balakot, Mansehra, Bagatram, Ellieah, Hawellia and a remote area in the mountains of Kohistan. In total we saw approximately 800 patients. We were helped by the Pakistan Army, airlifting us to a number of mountainous regions in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. One particular area was in Kohistan where we were the first medical team to arrive after 3½ weeks. Throughout our mission we saw numerous patients with chest infections, gastroenteritis, wound infections and urinary infections. We dealt with post surgical complications and rehabilitation. We dealt with a number of burns as a result of campfires and treated a lot of cases of scabies. The money that was kindly donated to this mission was used in many ways. Approximately £6,500 was used by my team to help with individual patient’s medical treatment, purchase of medicines and medical equipment including plaster cutters. Money was also distributed to families in the tent villages (approximately 200 families); books were purchased for children to help restart their studies; bottles of mineral water for each family in a number of tent villages were purchased and finally money was given to a number of families to help rebuild their properties. The remaining monies were used by the World Islamic Mission Welfare Trust to help with funding of operations, opening of dispensaries in remote parts of Kashmir providing free medicines and finally funding of longer term redevelopment projects. It is very clear that the rehabilitation and redevelopment of the areas affected by the earthquake disaster will take many months if not years. Generations have been lost, millions of people have been left homeless and thousands of children are orphaned. Although the official death toll at present is approximately 80,000 people, with winter setting in, without adequate housing, clothing and heating this no doubt will increase substantially. Further with potential overcrowding in the tent villages and poor sanitation there is also an increase risk of diseases. There is a dire need for financial support and as such I would encourage you all to please continue to contribute further to these poor and unfortunate people. You can do this in many ways including donating to the charity that sponsored me - World Islamic Mission Welfare Trust (www.wimuk.com) or donating to any other charity that is supporting the Earthquake Disaster cause. I would like to thank you all once again for encouraging me and supporting me in my humanitarian mission to Pakistan. Further information about my mission can be found on the AMC Relief website which is www.amcrelief.com. Yours sincerely Dr. Hasan Tahir BSc, MB BS, MRCP Consultant Physician and Rheumatologist Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust |