Medical Camps by CDRS

Comprehensive Disaster Relief Services or CDRS has probably one of the most organized and efficient teams in the non-profit sector when it comes to helping and assisting those in need during a disaster. Led by an inspirational and highly motivated American Todd Shea, CDRS has been doing some remarkable work in Azad Jummu and Kashmir (AJK) since 2005 (when earthquake shook and killed over 80,000 people in Northern Pakistan and AJK).


Within a week of the influx of Buner/Swat refugees into Mardan district, Todd's medical team was active and out in the field. Among other destinations, one of their mobile teams made their way to the town of Rustum to our healthcare facility (a few kilometers from Buner border). They are currently based out of our UM Hospital as part of our relief operations in the area. CDRS has not only brought with them much needed medicines but also medical doctors who are treating patients not only at our facility but have setup outreach medical camps in various villages in and around the town of Rustum where refugees are located. Rustum is 200 Km North of Islamabad and an hours drive from the city of Mardan.


In the month of May, they have treated over thousands patients in rural Mardan during various medical camps and at our facility. What's more, each Internally Displaced Person (IDP) treated has been provided with free medicines. The kids have also received toys and mothers given baby formula milk which is required in such dire times.

There are around 100,000 refugees in and around the town of Rustum (the first major settlement outside Buner District enroute to Mardan city). While little or no support (government or otherwise) has reached these refugees yet, CDRS medical services are an exception. They have been from the inception in 44 degrees (110 degrees Fahrenheit) of heat delivering the much needed medical care.

Thank you CDRS for being there with us in the hour of need of the Buner refugees.

NUST Students Distribute Hygiene Kits to IDPs

NUST SEECS college is always ahead of other universities in innovation, research and now philanthropy in Pakistan. The NUST Social Entrepreneur Club (NSEC), ACM and NVC have banded together to produce Hygiene kits for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in rural Mardan near the town of Rustum; an area which is currently under served by the government and development agencies in regards to relief efforts.

Since Mid May 2009, the students actively collected and put together over 200 hygiene kits for the poor and needy. This past weekend, they distributed them to the refugees in two remote villages namely Jamder and Jallar, six kilometers from the town of Rustum and 200Km north of Islamabad. The kits, as explained on their blog, contained basic hygiene items like Soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, water purification tablets, anti-mosquito coils, and band-aid.

Three of the students, namely Sarfraz, Yusuf, Iftikhar took precious time out of their studies and traveled to our village from Islamabad to distribute these items personally to the IDPs. These kits do not cost much. NUST students estimated that it is no more than PKR 200/Kit. Besides, most of the items on the list are available at home so many students simply donated an item from home to make the kits possible.

To see 19 year old students working closely to put these kits together and then distribute themselves to the poor and needy is a humbling as well as a truly inspiring experience. More of such examples should be followed nation-wide. The students plan to come back in the coming weeks with even more items to distribute including more hygiene kits and food items. So stay tuned for their efforts.

FAST, GIKI, LUMS, IBA and other universities should take heed from this effort and lets hope more such gestures are replicated nation-wide.

Picture Gallery of their efforts can be seen here

NUST Students at UM Hospital

DRIP and DMC Relief Efforts

In the month of May 2009, we treated thousands of patients all across rural Mardan District and near the border of Buner District. We were ably assisted by medical teams from

• Edhi Foundation
• CDRS
• Disaster Management Center, Abbotabad, Pakistan
• DRIP
• Mumtaz Bakhtawar Memorial Hospital

Overall, we treated 5,000 patients in our area and distributed free medicines to the IDPs. This is in addition to 2000 poor and destitute patients from our district whom we treated during the same time. We initially had only one doctor on duty at our Mardan facility but Todd Shea's CDRS was quick to respond to our plea of support and deputed a doctor from their AJK medical facility within days of the IDPs influx into Mardan District.

Dr. Nauman Siddiqui, of Disaster Management Center in collaboration with DRIP (Disaster Relief by Irish and Pakistanis) lead a team of doctors to our region which included two female physicians. 50% of the patients that we are treating are females and therefore, these lady doctors were extremely critical and vital for providing quality care to females in our area. We were able to treat over 300 patients in three different villages (Kotarpan, Rustum and Zahidabad) during the medical camp.


DRIP and DMC medical doctors team was back again in our area in June and assisted us in treating another batch of 200+ patients at UM hospital. Once again, DRIP/DMC provided us with free medicines for the IDPs that is helping our doctors continue to provide quality care to the poor. This time round, the team went beyond healthcare in providing food and traditional water buckets (Garha) to the IDPs.



DRIP has also joined hands with us in starting a free kitchen for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and are now preparing meals for at least 100 people daily. This is the first free kitchen of its kind in the area and therefore a significant improvement over the current reliance on local community to feed the IDPs in the area.




We have conducted a survey of IDPs in our area independent of the government. We hired a team of professionals that visited each village and counted IDPs in each home over the course of last few weeks. Over all seven Union Councils were surveyed which are adjacent or near our medical facility.

Survey Conducted by UM Healthcare Trust of IDPs
in adjoining Union Councils

Based on the results of the survey, almost 32,000 IDPs reside close to our facility and rely on us for not only healthcare but other needs. Considering that there is little or no government support or any other international non governmental organization working for these IDPs, and that DRIP/DMC are willing to go beyond just medical relief makes their efforts really unique.

A photo stream of the effort can be seen below
http://picasaweb.google.com/mumtaz.atif/DMCAndDRIPReliefCamp

Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire

It is very sad to see our brothers being refugees in our own homeland. Tens of thousands of Pakistanis are daily escaping from the killing fields of Swat and other areas. Pakistan is now confronting its largest-ever internal refugee population. By global standards this is the largest refugee issue that has erupted in the last fifteen years.

The refugees are on the front-line of sacrificing for the defense of Pakistan. For now they do not have their daily belongings, no livelihood, no schools,no medical facilities,no normal household comforts, no toilets, no kitchens. According to them it was easy to have a sleep in the sound of bombshells than sleeping in the camps. 'Out of the frying pan into the fire’ would better describe the situation of helpless people called the Internally Displaced People.

The trauma of the refugees is endless. The Swati people, including females and children, reached Mardan with their blistered and swollen feet due to excessive walk but unfortunately they are still awaiting our response.

No coordination mechanism is in place. Every NGO and GO is working in their own style. More families have arrived in the camp but there is no more space for them. There is no body to guide the new comers about other camps established for IDPs.

As a nation what we need is national response to this refugee crisis. We must appreciate the fact that the people of Swat/Malakand as sacrificing on the frontlines for ensuring the security of Quaid-e-Azam’s Pakistan, its citizens, its values, and its Constitution and its state.

Due to this emergency situation in Mardan, our Tele-healthcare team, in collaboration with its stakeholders (NUST, APPNA, UMTrust, among others) has launched a massive healthcare relief effort for the refugees streaming in from the Buner & Swat district.

Our hospital UMTrust is located in Zahidabad at the border of Buner District and therefore, we have seen a huge influx of refugees in our area these past few weeks. In fact, we have estimated close to 200,000 refugees in a 10KM radius of our facility. We have treated our 10,000 patient in rural Mardan in 120 days of regular operations. This number is rising as more IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) cross into Mardan District.

We are also distributing free medicines and extending free healthcare advise and diagnosis to all the IDPs. Our medical staff is making rounds in the area to treat patients on site if they are unable to visit our medical facility in village Zahidabad, which is 4 km from the town of Rustum in NWFP, Pakistan.

In this hour of the need for refugees we need your support as we are running desperately short on medical supplies. No international non-profit is operating in that area and thus their limited resources are under a lot of stress.

A photo stream of our efforts can be seen here at View Pictures of Buner Refugees

The list of required items can be seen at: list

Please donate generously to the cause at UMTrust or at Tele-healthcare.

IDP Relief Updates

We are sharing some updates that we have accomplished in the recent past regarding IDP relief in rural Mardan district. So far, we are the only non-profit operating around the town of Rustum providing any medical relief. There are an estimated 100,000 IDPs in and around our facility with no doctor or nurse (barring our facility) working in that area.

Medical Relief Camp with DRIP and Disaster Managment Center, Abbotabad

May 16, 2009: we held medical camps for Buner Refugees in collaboration with Disaster Management Center (DMC), Abbotabad and DRIP (DISASTER RELIEF BY IRISH & PAKISTANIS) at various villages around our medical facility in village Zahidabad. A total of over 300 patients were treated. These IDPs were given free medicines. This was the first medical camp in and around are area where over 100,000 IDPs are stranded. No other organization is working in our area for medical relief. All concentration of medical services are in the city of Mardan and not here.

Ambulance Service

May 18:Each day, we encounter numerous patients that need to be operated upon or taken to a bigger medical facility for further treatment. Dr. Noaman Siddiqui (DMC) immediately connected us with Edhi Foundation. The Edhi Foundation has now joined hands with UM Healthcare in providing free ambulance service to the poor and needy including IDPs. So far, each day, these ambulances ferry many injured or seriously ill to the city of Mardan (an hour drive away) to a tertiary care facility for further treatment. Thus saving lives each day.

CDRS Pakistan Medical Relief

May 18: As our urgent call for doctors was sent out, CDRS Pakistan responded by sending us a doctor with medicines to for IDPs. This has reduced our work load (200 patients a day) on one doctor at our facility by 50%. CDRS team also works closely with us in conducting medical camps in and around our facility. So far, we have treated over 1500 patients with their collaboration.

Below is a small video of the IDP relief efforts done by UM Healthcare Trust