Introduction

This was a new section, established in 2007 by President Umar Tariq, with a purpose of helping those patients who cant afford treatment including medicines or lab tests. Moreover we also try to attend to the patients with no attendant. We have made groups of members that go to different wards in search of needy patients.

"Unattended Asthmatic Child in SMW" by Umar Tariq (President SPWS)

There was a child in south medical ward. This was a very very interesting case, the child was about 11 years old and was from Mureedke, I came to know this child when I was taking his history.he was a patient of asthma… and had barrel shaped chest due to excessive cough and had no attendant with him. He was treated very badly in the ward, in the sense that his bed was changed daily, one day he had no bed and was lying on the floor, he was there for about more than two weeks, I inquired about him from the doctors, I was told that this patient presented to OPD without any attendant, he was diagnosed to have asthma, he was prescribed inhalers but he did not have money to buy them, he insisted that he wants to get admitted in the ward, but the doctors were not ready to admit becz first they don’t admit asthma patients in wards as there I no need of it as they only need inhalers, second there was no attendant with him. then I asked the child, he told me that he had run away from home for treatment, his parents did not pay much attention to him, he has been coughing very badly for past 5 years, so much that he has now got a chest shape abnormality but his parents did not take him to doctors, they take him to Hakeems and Sufis but there was no improvement, one day someone in his village told him that there is a very big hospital Mayo Hospital in Lahore, he ran away from his home, he also told me that he has never been out of his hometown before but left his home, and reached Lahore finally; here he kept on asking people about the Mayo and reached here but the doctors here said they wont admit him but he kept on insisting, so finally they admitted him but sorry to say still he was not taken good care when I asked the doctors about his treatment they told me his sole treatment is Inhalers and they would be sufficient for him but as he cannot afford them so they just give him an injection or tablet whenever there is an attack of asthma, i was told that the child suffered from severe attack about every 2 days I tried my level best to get some money and finally I got about 2000. I gave that child I remember about 3 ventolin inhalers, some clothes, some food to eat and some money to travel back home. I also offered him that I can drop him to his home on my way to Rawalpindi but he told that now his parents have come to Mayo and he would return with them; he asked me one thing ke “Umar Uncle ae tin pump kido tikar chalan ge?” I said they might be enough for 2-3 months then he asked what after that, would I become the same patient after that, from where I could get inhalers after, my parents cant afford my treatment; i promised that boy that one day I would start a section for free inhalers and I promise u that I would try to start it within 3 months ad u can come to me there and I would give u free inhalers every month aur sath hi tumhari Lahore ki bhi sair ho jye gi but he did not believe that I would be able to provide him free inhalers every month.
At that time I myself also was not sure, if I could do it or not but thank God, then he called me in May 2007 and finally I told him about our office that he can get his inhaler from here monthly. The I met him after few months, he was very happy and said now I can play in my village with my friends and he also told me a joke that whenever his cough starts he says one thing, “nus jao pump aa raheya hai” and he takes the puffs
I was very happy to see him and believe him to be the success our Asthma section becz he was the single boy who becz of whom I decided to start our asthma section.

"Old Lady with Diabetes" by Umar Tariq (President SPWS 2007-08)

Then there is a sad case of a 75 years old lady presented in emergency with paralysis of lower limbs. I was told that the patient has been paralyzed becz of uncontrolled diabetes and now they need to get her blood sugar level checked, when I asked his attendant why did not she took her medicines, he told me we cant afford them. I asked him to come to our office and we would give him free medicines every week…but then he told me we are residents of Sheikhupura and cant afford coming weekly, so I told them that I would inform Ameen Sahb(our SPWS dispenser) and he would give them medicines for whole month, i don’t know why but the patient was asked by one of the lady doctors to go to OPD Diabetic Clinic, there was only one attendant with him and that was her 80 years old husband, then something happened that brought tears into my eyes that old man went to OPD from emergency carrying that old lady on her back…..that gesture told me a lot of things about their love and about their helplessness…..when they reached OPD I was with them, I took them directly to the Diabetic Clinic but the doctor there was very harsh, he asked me why are u with these people, he said if in the way that lady dies then would be declared responsible…….if that old man loses balance and that old lady falls down then u would be responsible…….when I asked him to examine the patient….he did not even touch her and said as she is an emergency case becz of paralysis so I cant examine her…..take her back to emergency.now I arranged a wheel chair for her….thanks to Ameen Sahb of our office…..when I took her back to emergency I was once again told by that doc to carry her again to OPD to the Diabetic Lab……I carried the wheel chair and the old man was with me,………when we reached there…….no one was there……..we kept on waiting for them……finally we returned back to the emergency and I asked the doctor don’t they have any blood sugar level test system in emergency?? I was told that this doctor was a new one and this was his first day in emergency……anyways I am still not sure about that…..after that another lady doctor came me and assured me that they would take good care of them…..now it was my lecture’s time and I returned to college……later when I returned to emergency after 3 hours…I was told by that doctor, “ Us bechari patient ke sath buht bura hoa, I don’t know why but use kisi aur doctor ne discharge kar dia, Halan ke us ki haalat stable na hoyi….but….. I am sorry mai us ka khyal nahin rakh saki”
Then I found that old man in OPD…he was looking for me over there to thank me……I asked him about his wife…..he told that she has gone back home with some other relatives…..i took him to office and gave him medicines for 1 month and he left……then I don’t know why he or that lady did not come to office for next 4 months….i also asked Ameen Sahb about them…..one day I saw that baba ji in medical outdoor…..i asked him about his wife and why did not he come again to take medicines and he told me she had died and then remained silent……..i was shocked……….sometimes u r so helpless………u want to help someone but at the end, it is Allah who gives life….and it is not necessary that your efforts to help or save any patient would always prove fruitful……but our job is to try……and simply try……..Inna Mal Ammala Bin Niyat (The basis of all your efforts are your intentions) (Hadith by Prophet Muhammad PBUH)

"Guard at LWH" by Umar Tariq (President SPWS 2007-08)

Dr.Zulfiqar, Medical Officer, Unit 2, Lady Wellington Hospital contacted me for a patient. Actually the patient was a watch man at Lady Wellington Hospital. One month back he was suffering from fever and was doing his night duty. He felt really cold and burnt a fire near him, later he burnt his left leg till mid thigh. The patient had been in LWH for the past 25 days and he has been sent to Mayo for various calls and they returned him to LWH afterwards.
Now i went to his room to take care of that patient and take him to Mayo on request of Dr. Zulfiqar and MS LWH as he was their servant. He was given a special protocol as far as accomodation was concerned as he was having a VIP room in which there was only one bed for a single patient and all his attendants were with him. His attendants include a middle aged lady, his wife; an 80 years old lady, his mother and a 10 years old child, his son.
Now I had a look at his charts and I was shocked to see that for the past one week, only his vitals were maintained alongwith oral antibiotic intake and change of dressing. Moreover he had more than 7 calls to Mayo and his attendants told me what Mayo doctors just attend the call and sent back the patient.
I advised the attendants to take the patient to Mayo Emergency again and then give me a call and I would reach there. Now I came to know where the fault lies! The patient's attendants were illiterate and very very innocent.
what they did! first they did not got the patient admitted in Mayo because of the fear of the expenses, secondly, when they took the patient to Mayo on our request, they started asking the Mayo doctors, where is Dr. Umar or Dr. Usman, thinking we would be able to share their expenses. they told everyone we are here to meet Dr. Umar Tariq or Dr. Usman Ali Riaz (one of my friends) and obviously no one knew us, then after a few hours they gave me a call. I reached Mayo emergency and found them outside OT of Maxillo Facial Surgery Dept in Emergency. I asked them why they are here, his mother told me that one of the hospital staff asked them to go there.
I took the patient back to Surgery of Emergency and the doctors asked the attendants, where they took the patient.
Then it was revealed that one of the sweepress asked his mother to shift the patient a bit forward, pointing towards the Maxillfacial OT, as she needed to clean the floor and the attendants took the patient there and wasted about 2 hours waiting and asking peolpe about Dr. Umar and Dr. Usman.
Now the doctor inspected the burn and advised to get some tests done. Now nurses were not very accomodating and were a bit reluctant in getting the tests done and advised me to take the patient first for X-Ray and ECG and later she would pass the IV Line and give the IV antibiotic, then a HO asked her to do the latter first. Now after giving all her tests in the lab, I was told that if the patient had been received a few days early then much of the leg mass could have been saved but now during surgery they would have to remove much of the necrosed part of the leg muscles which kept on increasing with every passing moment, about half of the muscle thickness would have to be removed but at the same time they told me if the patient had not come to them that day and had been kept waiting for one more week, most probably his leg would have been amputated due to severe wound-infection and could have been disabled for the whole of his life.Thank God a person was saved from being disable for the whole life!

Now they asked the attendants to arrange 2 pints of blood for the surgery, out of which one was arranged by SPWS and the other by MS LWH.

Now I gave both pints of blood to Blood Bank and asked the attendants to take the blood from there when the operation starts. I also took them to the lab at 1st floor where I had given the tests and asked them to collect the reports after a few hours and I left to LWH for class.

After a few hours, I returned to Mayo Emergency and was expecting the surgery to be done but now I was informed by the doctors that there is no blood and no test reports of the patient. When I inquired from the attendants, his mother told me they went to lab to get blood bags and went to blood bank for the reports and obviously both of them did not have them, so they kept on waiting. Innocence and Ignorance due to illiteracy!

Then I took them to lab and we got the tests reports and took the blood bags from blood bank and finally we got the patient shifted to OT for surgery. Alham Do Lillah the surgery was a success and althought he lost much of his muscle mass from the left leg but his leg was still there and not amputated and he can walk on his own legs.

Now he is living a happy life once again and doing his duties in LWH. Now when I meet him I advise him in a light manner not to put on fire ever again in life and he gives me a smile on that and says, " Doctor Sahb Allah bachaye".

Congrats SPWS once again on playing its role in decreasing the suffering and pain of another patient! Hats off to Patient Care Section!

But one thing I learnt from my this experience is that its not the doctors' ignorance (they are very very busy due to patient overload) neither the lack of administration (it is suitable enough to work) but the attendants' ignorance, innocence and illiteracy that endangers the life of the patient the most. Lets pray our literacy rate increases upto 100% and we dont have any illiterate in our country. (Ameen)

"Child in AFPGMI" by Umar Tariq (President SPWS 2007-08)

I remember after my attempt for contribution in that last patient’s treatment…the next day…a house officer from south medical ward…I think her name was Dr.Munazza came to me and asked me to help her in collecting funds for another patient of bone marrow transplantation in AFPGMI… I was told that the patient came to Mayo few months back and was admitted in South Medical Ward….but he required bone marrow transplantation…for which he was referred to AFPGMI….and now the patient is there and it costs about 12 lac for the treatment and they cant afford it….many of the junior doctors of Mayo in different wards including SMW, EMW, Cardiology are trying to collect funds to send them to his attendants….now I also tried to do whatever I can… I was finance sec of SPWS at that time…last year…I asked vice president…faheem bhai about it and they donated Rs.1000 from SPWS funds for that patient…the reason being last year the total amounts of funds we collected last year was 24833…so in a way we paid 5% of our annual donation…anyways then faheem bhai and I went to Dr.Azra of SMW and told her that we would try our level best to do whatever we can….then I accessed some of my relatives and collected about Rs. 10,000 in a week… now when I wanted to send the donation I went to SMW in search of Dr.Munazza… came to know that she has now shifted to services…..then got her number from someone…contacted her….she told me that I can give the donation to another doctor of Cardiology dept….i don’t remember her name….the next day I went in search of that lady doctor to cardiology ward and came to know she is on leave and would return in a week….anyways I kept on going there everday in her search…when I met her she gave me the name, bed no and other details of the patient and told me that AFPGMI has set up a small account for his donation and all the donations go there…..the next 4 days were my tests….now after my tests… I went back home in Rawalpindi and gave all the donation to my father and requested him to deliver them to the 2IC of AFPGMI….
Then I went to sleep….i still remember my father called me after 3 hours and told me that I am sitting in 2IC’s office and he is saying there is no such patient….i was shocked….then I talked to 2IC myself and told him all the details of that patient that I knew…then he remembered and told me…that the patient had expired about 2 months back….and then a tear rolled down from my eyes….i was told that his attendants could collect only 1 lac rupees donation and there was about 4 lac rupees donations from others….then I put down the phone and I kept on thinking that all the docs who were collecting funds for that child kept on thinking that he was still live and they used to send donations for him…..then I kept o wondering kya faida? Have all these donations been wasted? Have all the hard work of all the docs been wasted? Have all the hopes for that child been wasted? Kept on thinking about this…but then got an answer after some while…no the efforts….the prayers….the hopes were never wasted….atleast this work made all of us come together for a noble cause for helping and supporting a poor child…. Waise bhi its we the humans who have to try and its He, The God, Allah to
give us the results.....and also INNA MAL AMALA BIN NIYATA....
May Allah bless all of us with a wish of helping other humans in pain....(Ameen)

"SMW Tetanus Patient" by Umar Tariq (President SPWS 2007-08)

I was asked by someone to help a patient in South Medical Ward…he was suffering from tetanus and was placed in a dark room…now I came to know he was a mechanic by profession and now he needs about 35000 for injections…I was told by a lady doctor of south medicine ward that that patient needs 5 injections…each of 7000 but he cannot afford it. I was told by a doc that he can wait for the next 3 or 4 days…but if he does not get the injections he would die…at that time I did not know properly how to arrange and how to access people for donations…it was my first experience…I went to different classes…requesting them for donation…then I went to some of my Relatives…but at the end could not gather money for more than 1 injection in 2 days…anyways when I reached back the south medical ward to give 7000 for the first injection….i was told that the patient had expired….i was shocked…literally…the reason being….may be before that I could have never thought of human life being so cheap…all my life I kept on believing that 30,000 is nothing and no one can die becz of this meager amount…but I was wrong…may be the reason was…Allah has blessed all of us so much that we cant even imagine the shortage of money…atleast such a small amount…that was the first time that I started taking interest in these poor patients….trying to understand their poverty….and the more I tried the more I became surprised….all of us cant even imagine the REAL poverty while sitting in our air-conditioned rooms and sleeping on our expensive beds….same was the case with me…..but that day I came to know what REAL poverty is… a patient dying of only 35000……before that I always used to believe that no one can die of becz of shortage of money….i always thought It happens only in movies but believe me whatever u see in the wards of Mayo Hospital is much worse and heart-throbbing than any fiction and here u understand the reality of a lot of things and I believe the wards of Mayo are the best teaching places where u learn not only medicine but some of the best lessons of the life

"Organophosphorus Poisoning Case" by Umar Tariq (President SPWS)

There was a case of organophosphorus poisoning came to emergency at 7 am in morning in a very critical situation..... the patient was from a backward area and his attendants did not know how to tackle with all the formalities (as it was a case of suicide)........i myself stayed there for continuous 6 hours.....actually he had to be given atropine injections every 15 min and need to check his temp and bp......but due to overburden on staff they could not manage it.....so we were there to help them and we stayed there.....at the end thank God the patient was saved....but just opposite to his bed there was another case of poisoning that could not be saved because of same overburden....

"NSW Patient" by Umar Tariq (President SPWS 2007-08)

there was a female patient in North Surgical Ward.....i dont know the disease but she was prescribed injections of about 5000 which she could not buy......umar mukhtar of 2nd year contaced me and tole about the details....at that time we did not have that much money in our funds.......so first we tried to arrange them....thanks to Ahmed bhai......now ahmed bhai came to me in hostel.....ahmed bhai and i went in search of injections but could find only 2 of the prescribed 5 injections..we were told we could buy the rest of injections from a far off dispensary.....when we went to the ward..... we gave the injections to a doctor there and he gave the injections to the nurse.......the nurse asked us who are we people and why we are helping that lady....when she came to know all about us...she was amazed and told us that they had the injection but they could not give them without some special permission...anyways she assured us that she would arrange her remaining injections and give them to her as well

"Hemophilic Ali" by Asmaa Ul Haque (Vice President 2007-08)

A 13 years old boy Ali Raza having family history of hemophilia presented to us with bleeding from lesion on tongue.His bleeding profile showed prolonged PT and APTT.He was given 2 pints of fresh frozen plasma (1 of which was provided by SPWS).He responded well to it.It was planned to do biopsy for polypoid oral growth on monday morning for which SPWS provided factor 8(thanks to efforts by Dr Asma mehmood,umar tariq and me) on sunday night (infused by Dr Ali Rukh).Bleeding profile following it showing PT within normal range while APTT was still prolonged.The polypoid mass shed off spontaneously on monday morning and there was no bleeding.So no biopsy was done and he was discharged on the command of professor of ward.Now he will report us in OPD for followup.
At time of discharge Ali was able to talk properly and also smile
SPWS CONTRIBUTION:
FFP--------- -----550 Pak Rs
Lab test (bleeding profile)---- ------1,000 Pak Rs
Factor 8----------- --------- ----3,563Pak Rs

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Then after 4 months,, he again admitted with complain of oral and nasal bleeding and has requested SPWS to help him financially to arrange fresh frozen plasma for him. Alhamdolilah help has been provided. considering Ali's case he will be requiring FFP after every 2-3 months and factor 8 before any operational procedure so he has been given permanent patient card by SPWS.

"SPWS Inspiration for others" by Umar Tariq (President 2007-08)

SPWS not only itself doing a great job in helping patient but also playing an important in inspiring all the people surrounding.
my personal experience in this regard is.....
i was in ward preparing ward case when i heard 2 docs talking to each other that if pt on the next bed didnot get CT scan done by that day, disharge him(Left without medical advice).so after ward finished i asked doc why pt is not getting CTscan done? reason was family problems and money. i introduced SPWS to them, told them abt its various activities and offered them that SPWS can arrange CT scan for that pt provided u confirm that he is really deserving pt. initially doc were really surprised how students can manage all such activities then they asked to give some time and that they ll confirm me by evening. when I again contacted them doc informed me that CT scan will be arranged for that patient
Next day when i went to meet pt. doc told me that seeing SPWS spirit of patient welfare we doc of the ward were so impressed that we all decided to arranage CT scan for that patient on our own behalf. This is a great complement for society
i saw that professor during his routine round was discussing the case of the patient with the fellow docs
Then i left ward with delightful thought that patient who would have been otherwise discharged will now be able to get proper treatment all because SPWS made a slight initiative while other people inspired by it carried out its task ie Welfare of our people/patients.

"Sughran Bibi" by Asmaa Ul Haque (Vice President 2007-08)

• 45yr old Sughran Bibi w/o Fatah Mohammad, resident of multan, contacted SPWS. Sughran bibi had along history of illness.It all started in feb 2007 with complain of chest tightness,dry cough initally doc of nishter hospital multan treated on lines of pneumonia but later she developed severe dyspnea, weight loss, productive cough,fever with rigor and chill and also had 2-3 episodes of hemoptesis she consulted doctors both in nishtar hospital and privately, she was told that due to diabetes mellitus her condition has worsen and she has developed tuberculosis,so she was given ATT,but her condition didnt improved rather unfortunately b/c of ill-feeling related to drugs her treatment was discontinued for sometime.
  Seeing her ill health(excessive weight loss and highly fluctuant ESR) she was then referred to Lhr- Gullab Dyvi Chest Hospital by her physican.They confirmed diagnosis-ie she suffers from T.B but medcines were not given to her.
  When she contacted SPWS Sughran bibi was weak and had fever.SPWS asked her to stay for time in Lhr so that we can conduct lab test again and take second opinion from doc in TB Chest department in mayo.Since it was saturday evening and OPD of TBCD was closed by that time so Umar bought medicine for that day after confirming from SR In emergency. On Monday morning SPWS got her complete check-up from TB department They advised to carry out sputum culture test for AFB for 3 consective days so as to check the efficacy of prior 3 month medication,again Sugran Bibi being mother wanted to return home to her young children SPWS convienced her that its for her own betterment that she stays here and gets her lab test and checkup done from Lhr.She agreed to it.For next 3 days she went to deposit early mornig sputum to TBCD lab and Alhamdolilah result came out affirmative (AFB -ve)
  During her stay in Lhr SPWS was in constant contact with her and Alhamdolilah she was responding to medicine very well.she no longer had complain of fever(previously she had to take pandol regularly for hyperpyrexia and body pains),dyspnea,vomiting esp early in morning,indigestion or cough.Inshort there was marked difference in her condition from the first day i met her and last day when she left for multan/home.
  SPWS CONTRIBUTION
  Myrin-P -------315Pak Rs(80 tablets)
  Vita-6 -----------100Pak Rs(60 tablets)
  Lab test -----------free from mayo TBCD lab
  1000Rs ----------travelling-ticket to multan for 3 ie Sughran bibi,her daughter Mumtaz and son
  (they had no money left with them as they were not expecting to stay for such a duration in Lhr)
  3packs of Glukil----antidiabetic-------ie 120tablets

"Hep C Student" by Umar Tariq (President SPWS 2007-08)

A senior bhai came to me with a 3rd year junior (name kept confidential). He was suffering from Hepatitis C for the past 3 years but dd not get the treatment as he could not afford it but now his situation was worsening a bit. Few complications were starting. Moreover he was earning his living himself by doing various jobs to pay his fees. I told him that we pay out of Zakat but he told that there is no one to support him. I confirmed all this from few other people. Then after a bit discussion with asma and some of the seniors, we decided that we would help that boy. He told me that he needs Interferon Injections....which come with the name of Uniferon by the company Getz and its price is about 60,000 for the whole 6 months course. I called Sir Shahzad Khan, our dear worthy senior in Getz, he gave me a concession of 21000 right away and now the new price was 39000 for the whole 6 months course but at the same time he also did us another favour.........he said u can buy the injections monthly and pay us 6500 for each month so that u dont replenish your funds suddenly. He was also kind enough to offer us free PCR of this patient in future. then we took that boy to Dr. Shahid, the new Gasroenterologist and Prof. Mushtaq Haroon, Prof of Medicine. Both of them examined him and confirmed us that he needs to start the course of interferon as soon as possible. Then i was told by a few people that the Govt also gives free interferons for Hepatitis. But for that we need to go to Social Welfare Officer and Zakat Committee of Mayo Hospital. We went there and introduced our society to them. They were very much impressed by our work. Moreover, they also gave us a few of their forms that we can refer our poor and deserving patients to them for zakat or for expenses of any treatment or lab test that is beyond our limitations. They also told me all the detail about this hepatitis treatment made free by the Govt and advertised all over in the media. The lady In-Charge there, i dont remember her name....told me that a few days back 200 poor patients of Hep C went to the Chief Minister's Office and did a protest against Govt....as a result Chief Minister granted full 6 months for those 200 patients but about the rest there are no interferons given by the Govt. Now if any new case has to register, he must submit his name to us after a lengthy procedure of doing all the formalities of filling about 3 forms, one from Nazim, one from Doctor and one Himself, then his name would be registered and most probably he would getv his interferon course after 3-4 months but they dont give interferons to any patient within few weeks time. We also went to Dr. Shahid for his expert opinion whether our patient can wait for few months or not but then he told us that the interferons provided by Govt after 3-4 months time are not trust-worthy, he told us that we can find interferons like those from the market for about 10,000 full course as compared to 60,000 of Getz but they are not that much effective and he wont recommend those for our patient. At the same time our patients' condition was worsening and he was very much eager to get the treatment as soon as possible. So after a long discussion on all this situation, we decided that we would go for Getz interferons. So finally we ordered the Getz people to provide us with a one month course of interferon to start with. We made a payment of 6500 to Getz via draft and we also took a letter from Getz for payment. they told us that they would deliver us interferons on Friday but yesterday I called Dr. Shahzad and he told m that now Getz has 3 days off Friday, Saturday and Sunday because of Ramzan so the delivery cant be made on Friday....he assured us that he would make sure that we receive the delivery on Monday or Tuesday.

In short, the student was given complete 6 doses of Interferons in 6 months alongwith 4 PCRs by SPWS.

"A Fake Case" by Umar Tariq (President SPWS 2007-08)

Then there is another fake case, these patients are not always poor, needy and innocent.... in 2007 a female patient came to me requesting that she needs money for film of MRI and some of the lab tests. when we inquired about her....we told her that we cant give her money as we dont pay cash to any patient...we can buy a film for her and get her MRI done but she wanted to get the money..so we said sorry to her. but then we came to know that she is habitual and a fraud...she comes regularly to Mayo to different people with the same excuse....and has been helped by many people previously for the same MRI film...Pity!

"Hearing Aid for Girl from Mandi Baha Uddin" by Umar Tariq (President SPWS)

both me and asma got busy in the same time because of our few class tests and we could not accomodate much more patients due to overburden of studies and most of the other members and post holders are also busy in prep of send-ups. Now there was a patient, referred to us from the same zakat committee and social welfare officer's office, calling me again and again..........he told me that i am a junior teacher in Mandi Baha Uddin and my daughter needs a hearing aid.....and i cant afford it.......but due to overburden of study and tension of the test i refused to help him at that time....i requested him to come again after a few days when me or asma would be free so that i can help him then.......but then he told that he is poor enough and cant afford the expenses of travelling in between Mandi Baha Uddin and Lahore. At the same time the boy of previous case was sitting with me.......he was very much impressed by our welfare work and was very thankful to us.........so he offered himself for the help of this patient. First of all i ordered him and everyone else that for all the patients of our patient care section that before spending any money or time on any of the patient, we would ask that patient to go to AMS and get his signs and our stamp from his office as a recommendation to us that he is a poor and needy patients and he needs our help......so in a way he would be referring the patient to us....the advantage being only.....atleast AMS himself would come to know what services SPWS is providing to the patients and one day if someone asks him about us....atleast he can tell them about our services. Moreover we also keep a photocopy of that signed and stamped chit of the patient. After completing all this formality, that boy took the patient to few doctors and got a confirmation that his daughter really needs a hearing aid....he also assessed himself that the patient was poor and deserving for Zakat.....then he went to the market and found the average price of hearing aid to be Rs. 7500 .....but then i went to the shop and told the owner that this patient is not our any relative and we are helping him merely with the relation of humanity and all the money we would pay him would be from our Zakat funds. He immediatly gave 2000 Rs concession.....so we provided them with an hearing aid and now the patient and her parents returned back happily to Mandi Baha Uddin. They also called us twice and thanked us for our services. at the end another poor and needy patient helped.......thanks to that boy

"A Sad Story of Shama Anti" by Umar Tariq (President SPWS)

the patient care section is back with a new story but this time its a different type of case...a different type of story then all the previous ones...i am not sure whether to call it a success or a sad ending to our efforts....whatever it is......it was our just another attempt to help others in pain.....
Shama Anti, referred to us by our very dear Rizwan Basharat bhai, Vice President SPWS 1993-94
She presented to OPD of Mayo Hospital about a month back with no clear complaint.....it was a lesion...a swelling...or some cancer. It was a lump growing day by day and extending towards left...exerting pressure on adjacent organs...esp lungs....so dyspnea being the most prominent complaint. Due to dyspnea...patient had to lay down most of the time. SPWS kept on following her from the first day......but the doctors could not diagnose what the problem was....Later she was diagnosed to have metastasis in Liver. She was advised to get ultrasound guided FNAC. Due to its complications, the slides and the reports were discussed a lot by the pathologist....there were normal hepatocytes with definite anaplastic cells of unknown origin. Furthermore, CT scan reports showed abnormality in posterior wall of stomach. the exact report was " Multiple hypotense areas in both the lobes of the liver, massive lymph nodes in the coeliac region and lesion noted in the posterior wall of the stomach." The role of SPWS was nothing else but guiding the patients and their attendants to the proper place, going with them for their check-up and inquiring her condition from the doctors regularly...
Then she was moved to the convalescent center referred by OPD... later on she was sent to the oncology ward of Mayo hospital...but the situation and the surroundings of the oncology ward are very very depressing...even both we could not withstand that and got a bit depress on our way back from that ward. Looking at the condition of patients around her, Anti Shama also got very depressed and started crying and kept on insisting that she wants to leave the hospital and want to back to her home.....but we were there for her moral support and convinced her by giving her the right advice of staying there as it was for her own betterment. Later she was advised for CEA and gastroscopic biopsy....then we were told by the doctors over there that she is in hopeless situation...later we got her examined from few other doctors and they also themselves got her checked from few private doctors but all in vain.... she was advised by one doctor to take appointment from Shaukat Khanum memorial hospital....but most of the doctors said even that is of no use....they would just get their money spent on needless tests as nothing can be done about her.... this was the point when she and her attendants decided to leave the Mayo Hospital and go back to their home in a small village along the Ravi river.
Now she is back home and SPWS is in constant contact with her. She is taking homeopathic treatment now and has been advised by the Homeopaths not to take any medicine of Allopathy.....now she is in a lot of pain.....cant even sit down...she is always lying on bed.....she has developed haemorrhoids, flatulence and severe constipation. We know that we are moving towards a really sad end in this case but nothing can be done about it except praying to God....and on behalf of SPWS i request all of u to pray for Anti Shama in this holy month of Ramzan....
The role of SPWS in this case was nothing else than guiding the patient and taking her to various docs and labs....all the treatment and tests were provided free of cost by Mayo Hospital.....we were just trying to take good care of her.....we might have not provided any financial support to the patient but we were always there for her.... providing her and her attendants moral support....it is not always a pill or an injection that can alleviate the pain of the patient...sometimes even the smile of a caring and loving person can make him forget his pains for few moments and we just tried to do that in this case....we tried to do whatever we could in this hopeless case....and finally when we lost all our hopes we are here in front of you requesting all of you to raise your hands in front of God for an old woman's pain and sufferings and pray to Him that He bless her with His blessings and make her healthy once again (ameen).

"Old Lady with her 7 Sons" by Asmaa Ul Haque (Vice President 2007-08)

A 50 yr old lady reported to us with the complain of gradual loss of vision in her functioning eye.we got her checkup done from eye department and she was told that she needed catarct surgery done.when she heard this we could clearly see that she looked worried and there was clear sign of fright on her face.we assured her that its nothing serious and doc are quite trained, above all u can get it done free here.listening this she started crying we explained her the procedure and tried to comfort her. once she was fully comfortable with us she told that she is a widow and earns her living by working as house maid,when she was just 25yr old her husband died all her life she worked hard to educate her 7 sons who r now married, working and all earning well but no one cares/looks after her or help her financially.she kept on saying that people consider sons to be the shelter for old age but look at me my sons dont even acknowledge my hard work and efforts i ve put in to raise them.we told her that u dont worry we ll take care of u and accompany u during ur stay in hospital. on listening this she told that she had the other eye operated in one of the free eye clinics but she lost her sight so she is afraid to go for free treatment. When her mistress came to know that the old lady needs cataract surgery and we students trying to help poor desrving people she tried to arrange money for her but came short of 1000Rs which spws paid her operation went fine and she is able to see the world clearly again above all continue working to meet her needs.

"Hearing Aid for Old Man" by Umar Tariq (President SPWS 2007-08)

There is another 70 years old person referred from the Zakat office for another hearing aid but first we got him checked from our doctors......to confrim his need of hearing aid........and then we provided him hearing aids. The bill was Rs.5500.

"Sclerosing Needle for Old Lady " by Umar Tariq (President SPWS 2007-08)

there is a lady who came to us with upper GIT bleeding, chronic liver disease, hep c, endoscopy revealed upper git bleeding and she cant afford a sclerosing needle of worth 3000 becz he had only one son to support her and his monthly wage was 3000....we have also enertained her by providing her sclerosing needle Injectra by Mediglobe at the expense of Rs. 2850....

"Now Free PCRs by SPWS" by Umar Tariq(President SPWS 2007-08)

There are two cases of PCR who cant afford it.......for which i called Dr. Shahzad....he told me that he cant provide us with a free PCR facility for all the patients referred by us becz there is a company rule that all the patients who would buy Getz interferon....Getz would get them free PCR....he can help us for free PCR for 1 or 2 deserving patients but not more than that.......then Ali Rukh bhai told me that Mayo is also doing PCR free of cost but then we came to know that u receive the results after a long delay of 90 days.....then we contacted Prof. Muneer, Head of Pathology Dept and Dr. Ihtesham, Asst Prof of Pathology Dept. Prof Muneer has given us a pad of his private Patho lab and told us that he would provide few of the lab tests totally free of cost and the remaining tests with a special concession to the patients referred by us with our stamp on their pad.
Market Rate for PCR is Rs. 2800-3000
Dr. Ihtesham said he can arrange PCR for Rs. 1800 but finally Prof. Muneer of Pathology was kind enough to offer us his services for PCR at the most cheap rate in the market for only Rs.1200....so now the PCR of two patients has been done and we have also paid his laboratory Rs.2400 for that. Thanks to Prof.Muneer!
Later on, a young widow lady living with his old father and son who supports her family by working as housemaid
She had Hep C contacted SPWS for PCR
Thanks to Dr Muneer PCR was done on special concession on the request made on very short notice.

SPWS arranged PCR for 4 more patients.1 patient is HepB +ve while rest have HCV. all of them have now started medication and are doing well. One of the ladies with HCV was thanking all of us, the team of spws, with tears in her eyes for providing care to poor patients,she was diagnosed to have hepatitis 5years back but due to financial instabilty couldnot afford treatment on regular basis.
All these patients r now having medication on regular basis and r doing well.

"Girl with PID" by Asmaa Ul Haque(Vice President SPWS 2007-08)

A young girl 22 yr old was helped by SPWS in carrying out investigations and treatment for pelvic inflammatory disease.She came fews days back and was happily telling that she is pregnant and is in good health now.

Review by Dr.Nadeem Butt (President SPWS 2000-01), Umar Tariq

(President SPWS 2007-08) & All SPWS Post-Holders

Life is not what we all think it is! Helping people makes us help ourselves. All of us are very successful and lucky wherever we are!

We, all the SPWS post-holders are holding highly prestigious positions irrespective of whatever and whereever we are. None of us, hold any extra-ordinary credentials but have reached the heights of success in our careers. When we look at our CVs and credentials and job situations, we think we dont deserve where we have reached today but whenever we look up at skies, some one smiles from there and asks us to carry on.........
There comes a flashback from outdoors of Mayo Hospital when we used to pass through corridors and every now and then, someone will come and put his/her hand on our head, and will say...

"JA BETA! ALLAH TUJHAY BARA DOCTOR BANAYE!"(Son! May God make you a very very successful person in life)

and most of us used to be the most careless persons in class, just used to laugh on that...
"ME? ME? BARA DOCTOR ? Nahi.. "

We used to think we will not get any place but a small private practice and even that might not work. Even so that most of us did CSS or MBA as alternate options...(even worse .. career break?)
and here we are today.... cant say a word that how much we are blessed with.... its phenomenal... and i again we look back at our CVs and there is nothing better than this fact that we worked for SPWS, weworked for our people, we might call them ungrateful but their tears, their hearts, their loved ones(when u try to heal them)...

They say something looking up at skies that all ur life gets sorted... tell us who has upper hand here... we or them?

We might have given them an aspirin or may be expensive inhalers, or a nebulizer/fan or an expensive SonicAid or an expensive Interferon therapy or a rupee Paracetamol but they gave us a life, we never dreamt of........

Then we feel that we owe them so much...so much that even if we devote all of our salary, all of our time and even we do it for all of our life, its still not enough...
The message is "In a world where every one is working for personal interest and benefit, we are the ones who are working for others and we are and will continue to be rewarded in the ways that no body imagines and can imagine, you can hardly do any thing for yourselves! Let God do everything for you and you carry on whatever you are doing for humanity........

"JA BETA! ALLAH TUJHAY BARA DOCTOR BANAYE!!!!" (Son! May God make you a very very successful person in life)