OT is addition to a Primary care, dental chair, Community ophthalmology, NCD Desk it runs for the weaker sections free of cost.
The minor OT, which formally launched on Saturday in Masjid Omer-al-Shifa, located in Saif colony, Shaheenagar
Hyderabad:
In a first of its kind initiative, a primary health care center run by a non-governmental organization (NGO), in Masjid Omer-al-Shifa, located in Saif colony, Shaheenagar has now set up a full-fledged operation theater (OT) for minor surgeries.
The minor OT, which was formally launched on Saturday will have state of the art equipment like surgery table, OT lights, advanced instrumentation, bio-waste disposal process for keeping good hygiene and sanitation for patient safety.
OT is addition to a primary care, dental chair, community ophthalmology, non-communicable disease desk it runs for the weaker sections free of cost.
The primary health care center run by the NGO Helping Hand Foundation (HHF).
All minor surgeries with pre-surgical profile and post op medicines will be given free of charge by HHF to all patients regardless of their caste or creed.
Most areas surrounding the health center have faced inundation last year October and continue to face problems of overflowing drains, nalas and flooding. Consequently, these slums are endemic to water borne and skin diseases.
The HHF in collaboration with AMPI (american muslim physicians of Indian origin), USA, is catering to the primary health care needs for over 20 urban slums since December, 2020.
With an average foot fall of seven hundred patients per day, it was observed that a significant number of patients suffering from diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases are having complications that require surgical procedures, which many cannot afford.
As per the survey done by the NGO, three per cent of the diabetics visiting the center had diabetic foot that very quickly translates into gangrene if untreated.
Cases of patients with Corns, Lipomas, Keloids, in growing nails, benign fibroadenomas, burning wounds, sebaceous cysts, non-healing ulcers are were also commonly seen in the center.
So far, 25 minor surgeries have been performed.
“Due to lack of awareness, poor hygiene and non-compliance to treatment many patients are landing in complications that require surgical intervention,” said Dr Arif Hussain, general surgeon at the clinic.
“Once a patient lands into complication the treatment for such conditions is prolonged and expensive and since majority of the patients are daily wagers with little saving, they tend to neglect resulting in devastating consequences,” said Mujtaba Hasan Askari, Helping Hand Foundation.
source: http://www.siasat.com / The Siasat Daily / Home> News> Hyderabad News / by Sakina Fatima / August 07th, 2021
Relief organizations of Hyderabad, run by Muslims, have come to the rescue of the state and offered help to fight the shortage of Oxygen.
A TCN Ground Report features some of them.
Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in Hyderabad in the southern Indian state of Telangana and rise in deaths due to the virus, the severe shortage of oxygen, ventilators and beds in both the government and private-run hospitals exposed the shortfalls of the healthcare system of the state.
Reports said that many patients were turned away from the hospitals due to a shortage of beds and died in their homes. Those admitted to the hospitals died due to lack of oxygen supply and delay in oxygen tankers reaching them. This lead to hundreds of deaths in Hyderabad alone.
Reports also said that hospitals were overcharging Covid-19 patients. These factors contributed to many people choosing to opt for home treatment.
It was then that the relief organizations of the state, run by Muslims, came to the rescue and offered help to fight the shortage of Oxygen.
Talking to TwoCircles.net, Shiba Minai, an activist said, “I make at least 50 to 60 calls to get a bed for a patient”.
Shiba helps people by connecting them with groups, hospitals and organizations that have been helping patients with beds and oxygen facilities.
Shiba has been doing relief work since the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic by providing food for the homeless, migrants, poor people in the slums. She has also helped with the funeral services of the victims.
She said that a lot of people reach out to her during crisis time. To help these desperate families, she would seek financial help from friends and family members.
“I get calls from people who are unable to find a bed or oxygen if they are already in the hospital or are under home treatment. Then, I call up hospitals and once I get the right hospital, I then connect the patient or the attendant to that hospital,” she said.
Shiba said the work she does is exhausting. “Making several calls to hospitals that want to know how much can the patient be able to pay and meanwhile handling calls from attendants of patients is taxing,”.
Talking about an incident wherein a 45-year-old woman whose saturation levels dipped low and her family could not find a hospital with a bed, Shiba said that she tried her best but “the hospitals refused to admit her after coming to know that her oxygen levels were quite low and she had fewer chances of survival.”
The family of the patient roamed to 6 hospitals, who earlier had assured of the availability of bed refused to admit her once they saw the saturation levels. The woman was taken home where she later succumbed.
“I tried to help this lady from 9 p.m. till the wee hours of the morning when it was time for Suhoor (early morning meal during the Muslim month of Ramadan). Sadly, she could not be saved,” Shiba said in a sad tone.
Although Shiba has helped sixty persons with beds with oxygen facilities, what makes her sad is that the “number of patients who I could not help is higher than the ones I helped.”
Shiba is not alone in doing Covid-19 relief work. Like her, several organizations have helped Hyderabad overcome the Covid-19 crisis from the last year. This year too they have come forward to battle the oxygen shortage in the state.
‘Oxygen on Wheels’
Mohammed Asif Hussain Sohail, the chairperson of Sakina Foundation, who is popularly known as the ‘Hyderabad Hunger Warrior’ for feeding the hungry for more than 10 years, has been receiving close to 200 calls every day from patients who are being treated at home. He also gets calls from hospitals especially Osmania and Gandhi General Hospitals requesting him for oxygen facilities.
“The price of oxygen cylinders is quite high at Rs 30,000 and the cost of refilling has gone up to Rs 2500 which a common man cannot afford,” Sohail said.
Md Asif Hussain Sohail of Sakina Foundation
Sohail said that as hospitals are running out of oxygen and due to black marketing, he has to verify if the patient needs oxygen or not before helping.
“Sometimes, they don’t need oxygen and we have to counsel and advise them not to give in to their fear and explain to them that a needier person requires it more,” he explained.
Sohail claims that he has “spent more than Rs 10 lakhs from his pocket to buy cylinders and send them to the homes of the needy.”
“Every day, in Hyderabad itself, my Foundation has provided more than 200 free cylinders. We have reached out to at least 2000 people so far,” he said.
Oxygen on Wheels is another initiative of the Sakina Foundation. As part of this initiative, oxygen cylinders are provided to patients who are on their way to the city for treatment from their towns and villages.
“Many people were dying on the way to Hyderabad. Not being able to get proper treatment in their villages they would travel to advanced hospitals in the city. The patients would only be saved if they arrived on time and if the hospital had oxygen,” he said.
“I wanted to save lives so I came up with this idea to provide emergency oxygen cylinders on the highway,” Sohail said.
As soon as they receive an SOS call, his volunteers drive to the spot where the patient is and help him/her with the oxygen.
Sohail said that they have driven up to 200 kilometers to provide oxygen to a patient on the highway.
“Patients were coming not just from the districts of Telangana state but also from Bhopal, Maharashtra, Karnataka. We met them all on the highway and immediately helped them with the oxygen if their saturation levels were low,” Sohail said, adding, “Nearly 150 persons were helped on the highway.”
Sohail said that “love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.” “Without it, humanity cannot survive,” he added.
700 people given oxygen aid by Helping Hand Foundation
With the oxygen crisis in the state, volunteers of the relief organization Helping Hand Foundation (HHF), headed by Mujtaba Aksari, have been at the forefront.
The group distributed a flyer with their contact numbers for people to seek help in cases of Covid-19 emergency. The group also provide help with giving decent funeral services to Covid-19 victims deaths irrespective of religion.
Mohammed Fareedullah, who heads the project told TwoCircles.net, “When we receive a call for help, our doctors consult them online and based on the doctor’s recommendation, if the patient needs oxygen, we advise the attendant to come to our godown and take the oxygen cylinder without paying any advance or rent.
A patient receiving oxygen help from HHF | Photo by HHF
Fareedullah said that the families of the patients just have “to pay the refilling charges.”
“The plant where we get the cylinders refilled have begun to charge double of what they used to charge earlier. But we charge the people a nominal amount,” he said.
“The cylinders provided by HHF are usually for home patients but if the patient develops complications and their saturation level drops despite the oxygen therapy then we help them reach the hospital where again our counsellors in the hospital help them with other needs. When the patient recovers and is discharged we ferry them home in HHF ambulances. If they do not recover the volunteers help the family with the last rites too,” explained Fareedullah.
Helping Hands Foundation owns about 15 ambulances which are free for all patients. The group has 100 cylinders and a luggage trolley to transport the cylinders to the houses of people who cannot come to their go down.
To date, HHF claims to have helped more than 700 people covering the entire old city and many other localities.
Humanity First Foundation: from feeding hungry to procuring Oxygen
Mohammed Shujatullah,founder of relief organization Humanity First Foundation has been feeding patients and their attendants at three government hospitals for the last 5 years.
One day when Shujatallah received a call requesting help with oxygen, he decided to buy cylinders and give them for free to patients and then refill the empty ones and help whoever needed them. “Prices had doubled for both the oxygen cylinders and for refilling but through donations to Humanity First, I continued helping people every day with the 110 cylinders we have,” he said.
Md Shujatullah of Humanity First Foundation checking oxygen cylinders | Photo by HFF
His organization has an ambulance, which carries the oxygen cylinders to hospitals and homes of patients.
In the month of Ramadan, Shujatallah said that his foundation received good donations and he managed to help as many people as was possible for him.
Patients at the gate of a hospital supported by SDIF | Picture: SDIF
‘Our motive to save lives keeps us going’
Another local initiative known as Social Data Initiative Forum (SDIF)founded by Azam Khan and Khalid Saifullah started oxygen services during the first wave of the pandemic with their stock of 15 cylinders.
During the second wave, as the oxygen crisis has only gone worse, the group has been adding to their stockpile of oxygen cylinders.
The founders said that they had to pay more than the normal price for both purchasing and refilling the cylinders.
“Our services are not restricted to just providing oxygen cylinders. We also set up an oxygen bank at Government notified Covid-19 hospitals where usually the poorest of the poor come to access health care. People from the rural parts come to Hyderabad with hopes of quality treatment and they face a lot of hurdles waiting to get admitted after already having travelled a long distance,” Azam Khan said.
“The waiting period at the hospital and the travel time further delays the process of the treatment, which is why we opted to help in the government hospitals,” he clarified.
In Gandhi Hospital alone, which is the largest Covid-19 hospital of Hyderabad, Azam Khan said they have “20 oxygen cylinders in circulation which are serving at least 400 patients per day.”
“This supply of oxygen is crucial to their recovery,” Khalid added.
Apart from the 20 cylinders, they have 100 more cylinders at the other two government-run Covid-19 hospitals of Hyderabad.
They said they have helped more than 100 people so far.
Azam Khan narrated an experience that made them realise the significance of their work.
The King Kothi Government hospital had requested SDIF to set up an oxygen bank.
“I felt we had to start the work immediately and even though it was Sunday, our team went to the hospital. As soon as we reached the hospital, we saw four dead bodies being carried away. We were told the hospital had run out of oxygen causing the death of these four persons. We immediately set up our oxygen cylinders. Later the doctors informed us that our timely help had saved three persons who were critical and would not have survived had we not reached on time. This experience both saddened us and also made us feel happy that we could at least save the lives of other three persons,” he said.
“Our motive to save lives keeps us going,” the duo said.
The SDIF is helped by two other charity organizations from Hyderabad namely Safa Baitul Maal and Access Foundation, who work in close collaboration with them.
Pre and post-Covid care given by Al Hamd Foundation
Al Hamd Foundation, a charitable trust that helps widows, students and the poor, took up Covid-19 relief operations during the last year’s lockdown.
Amid the ongoing second wave, the foundation is continuing with online consultations of patients with doctors.
When patients contact them online, they are connected to doctors who advise home treatment keeping in view the severe crunch in the hospitals and also the fact that many cases can be treated at home with proper medications and care.
Al Hamd Foundation Covid relief services
The foundation has provided home treatment to fifty-two patients, who had reported low oxygen levels.
The founder of Al Hamd Abdul Azeem Mohammed told TwoCircles.net that the treatment cost they incurred for each patient would have run up to Rs. 7 to 8 lakhs had they been treated in a hospital.
“The team of AL Hamd ensures that the patient does not panic and develops a strong will to fight the disease and survive. The team also helps with the oxygen cylinders, the medicines and regular monitoring by the doctor who visits the patient. At times when the patients are poor and the team notices that they need provisions apart from the medical assistance, Al Hamd provides the family members with rations as well,” Azeem said.
Al Hamd has given 300 oxygen cylinders and 6 oxygen concentrators to other organizations that are helping people affected with Covid-19.
They have four oxygen hubs and seven ambulances in Hyderabad-Secunderabad and a fifth one is coming up soon.
“We have ordered 25 oxygen concentrators from the UK which is likely to arrive by in the last week of May. Each oxygen concentrator of 5-6 litres costs around Rs 46,000. We have also ordered 5 C PAP machines that cure respiratory disorders. And since we are not a hospital, we intend to donate these C PAP machines to the hospitals where there are facilities to treat patient with respiratory disorders that are linked to Covid” explained Azeem.
“We also give post-Covid care by giving immunity-boosting drugs and foodstuff,” he added.
Al Hamd is run with funds from family and close friends.
50-bed oxygen therapy centre set up by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind
Well-known socio-religious organization Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) Telangana has also set up a 50-bed oxygen therapy centre in Wadi-e-Huda near Shaheen Nagar, Hyderabad. JIH’s sister concern Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) supports recycling the cylinders, rifling them, coordinating with other organisations for availability.
Post Script
To support Helping Hand Foundation, you can make a GooglePay donation here: 8125203286
The women and child centre at the mosque has an all-women team comprising a senior general physician and other staff
[Image for representation.]
Hyderabad:
Proving that mosques can play a larger role beyond merely serving as places of worship, a Hyderabad-based NGO has opened a community healthcare centre at a mosque in the city to specifically cater to the health needs of women and children in the slums.
Helping Hand Foundation (HHF), in collaboration with US-based Support for Education and Economic Development (SEED), has opened the clinic at Masjid Mohammed-e-Mustafa, in Wadi-e-Mahmood, a slum area in Rajendranagar mandal.
The exclusive women and child centre located on the first floor is catering to a cluster of 31 odd slums in Rajendranagar Mandal, covering a population of about five lakh.
This is the second community health centre to be opened in a mosque by the HHF. It is already running one in the old city of Hyderabad.
The NGO embarked on the new initiative realising the need to focus on the healthcare needs of women and children, especially during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which has made things worse for women and children’s health.
Covid, lockdown induced joblessness, loss of income, coupled with closure of schools which serve mid-day meals and anganwadis, which provide supplementary nutrition, has only added to lack of adequate nutrition in children and women and more so pregnant women in the last few months, says the HHF.
Apart from hunger and malnutrition, lack of access to basic health care services in the public and private health care domain has made health care inaccessible and expensive for the weaker sections, particularly maternal health for pregnant women, consequently health issues like anaemia in women, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Women and immunisation services for children have been majorly compromised in the past few months.
The NGOs choose Wadi-e-Mahmood as the area lacks basic healthcare facilities.
The women and child centre at the mosque has an all-women team comprising a senior general physician, a child specialist, obstetrics and gynaecology specialist, a dental surgeon, dietician, nurses, counsellors and front desk support staff.
The centre, named Rabia Clinic in the memory of the mother of one of the principal donors, provides basic primary care in which women and children can approach for seasonal illness and for health services like nebulisation, IV fluid replacement, wound dressings etc. Free third-party lab services including TIFA scans will be provided to pregnant women from weaker sections during ante-natal period.
All patients coming to the clinic will be assessed in a triage, which has trained counsellors, who are doing thermal screening and checking oxygen saturation levels, and entering the details in an ICMR-developed risk assessment form which gives scores on a scale of 1-10.
A dental chair with state-of-the-art features has been installed to carry out simple to medium level procedures in women and children like removing dental carries, root canal procedures etc.
Apart from curative aspects, the focus is on preventive health to check for non-communicable diseases among women, anaemia during the ante- and post-natal periods and malnutrition in children.
Counsellors and dieticians use a WHO recommended template to check blood pressure, height, weight, waist circumference and family history to assess the overall NCD score on a scale of 10. Those who score above 4 will be counselled for weight loss, diet and physical exercise along with early diagnosis and treatment of NCDs like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, thyroid problems and other chronic health issues.
Similarly, children will be also assessed using WHO recommended form to determine the extent of stunting and wasting and the ones who are chronically malnourished will be provided protein supplements and mid-day meal will be provided to 100 school going children under 10 years at the mosque three times in a week to fill in the gap.
Children will be checked for immunisation and will be vaccinated in due course if found not compliant. Iron supplements to women found anaemic and nutritional supplements along with vitamins will be provided to children found stunted and wasted through an exclusive Nutri Rehab Programme.
Mujtaba Hasan Askari of the Helping Hand Foundation said the clinic was catering to women and children, irrespective of their religion, caste and creed.
“Most of the health issues faced by women and children are being neglected in the current pandemic plus there is no focus on preventive health which we intend to focus on through this clinic at the masjid,” he said.
The women and child clinic is fully Covid-compliant with special cabins for doctors protected with plastic curtains, glass mounted tables to protect front desk staff, a triage at the entry point, pedestal-mounted sanitisers stands and large exhaust fans for free flow of air across the entire space of the clinic and a separate waiting area for patients coming to the clinic.
HHF has already been running a community health centre at Masjid-e-Ishaq at Nawab Saheb Kunta in the old city since November 2018.
The health centre last year introduced yoga to help people fight non-communicable diseases. The organization said since yoga was found to be effective in tackling non-communicable diseases, they made it part of the prescription.
The counsellors at the clinic teach various asanas to the patients every alternate day besides giving them YouTube links to follow yoga on their mobile phones.
source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> India> Health / by IANS / September 02nd, 2020
For the needy: Patients consulting a doctor at Masjid Ishaq at Achireddy Nagar in Old City on Saturday
Masjid Ishaq throws open a clinic for urban slum-dwellers
From the outside, the Masjid Ishaq at Achireddy Nagar in Old City looks like any other mosque. It has a mihrab, or a niche in a wall form where the Imam leads the prayer, and musallis or congregants are seen performing their ablutions and praying on the rows of prayer mats. But a closer look reveals that there is something more to this place of worship than meets the eye. In perhaps a first for the area, the masjid has thrown open a clinic for urban slum-dwellers, irrespective of caste, gender or religion.
The clinic is a collaborative effort of the Masjid Managing Committee, headed by brothers Fayaq Khan and G.M. Khan, and Helping Hand Foundation (HHF), an NGO.
“We wanted to dedicate a space inside the masjid for the clinic where people from weaker sections of all religions can come for free treatment and guidance on healthcare. While the masjid was constructed two years ago and sees around 400 people on Fridays, the clinic is new and is spread over approximately 1,000 square feet. Since HHF has been working in the field of healthcare, we agreed to work with them,” says Fayaq Khan. According to HHF founding trustee Mujtaba Hasan Askari, the clinic has been informally functioning for about 10 days now. It was launched on Saturday. The clinic runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except on Fridays and Sundays.
Mr. Askari says, “A counsellor-doctor and nurse will be available at the clinic. It will also serve those who need home care. Several people are unable to go to hospitals, say for changing bandages and other minor treatments. The clinic will look after such cases as well.”
Apart from home care, Mr. Askari says the clinic also offers free physiotherapy, wound management and maternal care.
While free healthcare services are provided here, the larger aim, he says, is to ‘link’ patients to government hospitals and the government healthcare system. Thus, the clinic would also serve as a ‘referral centre’. Patients would be transported to the area hospitals or larger ones, depending on the nature of the case.
“Many urban slum-dwellers cannot afford to pay for the trip to hospitals, leave alone pay for medication. Apart from our two vehicles, we have engaged local auto-rickshaw drivers to transport patients,” Mr. Askari says.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Syed Mohammed / Hyderabad – November 10th, 2018
