Dubai: A group of Pakistani doctors get together every month at Pakistan Association in Dubai to provide free medical care to patients who cannot afford expensive treatment.
These volunteer doctors who work in various private and government hospitals and clinics in the UAE work under the umbrella of Doctors' Wing of the Pakistan Association in Dubai (PAD). They provide their time and skills free of cost to serve their community with special focus on the underprivileged community members.
The Doctors' Wing organises free medical camp on the last Friday of every month and provide free consultancy to patients.
"We started this camp as a medical awareness campaign but now it has turned quite big because more than 20 specialist doctors provide consultation to about 150 to 200 patients who visit the camp," said Dr Zarka Taimur, president of the Doctors' Wing.
Though the camp is organised at the Pakistan Association, it is open to other nationalities as well.
"The main objective of the camp is to provide health care facility to low income group of people who cannot afford expensive medical treatment and are unable to consult with specialist doctors," Taimur, a gynaecologist, told Gulf News.
Limitations
But these doctors have certain limitation as they cannot prescribe medicines, conduct tests and even administer injections.
"We have certain limitations here as we only check the patients and advise them on their medical treatment," said Dr Ziaul Hassan, founding president of the Doctors' Wing. The law does not permit volunteer doctors to practice their profession without permission. However, they can provide consultancy at such free medical camps.
"All we do is to check patients, advise them and educate them about their healthcare needs," said Hassan.
He said the medical camp had been a great help for patients but there is need to do much more.
"Having felt the need for a greater facility for the poor patients, we are planning to set up a proper clinic at the association with the approval of the authorities concerned as it would help us provide full treatment to the patients," he added.
The Pakistan Association officials are providing all possible support to the medical camp.
"We have also started maintaining the list of poor patients who cannot buy medicine or go for expensive medical tests and surgeries," said Riaz Farooq Sahi, president of the PAD.
He said the association would call these patients and provide them with free medicines and arrange free medical tests and even pay the cost for their surgeries.
He said purchasing expensive medicines is the biggest problem for poor patients who come to the camp.He requested philanthropists and rich community members to come forward and contribute in their project to set up a proper clinic.
Facilities project
Sahi also talked about the association's plan to set up a free clinic in the association, a polyclinic in Al Ghusais to run on non-profit basis and a Pakistani Hospital to provide affordable treatment to low income group of people from all nationalities.
"We are in the process of getting approvals for these projects which will be built with the help of the community," he said.
Do you know of other similar initiatives? What more could be done to help residents in the UAE?
