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PIMA Karachi Con’16 begins with tribute to Abdul Sattar Edhi

Karachi, 26 November 2016: After the sad demise of Maulana Abdus Sattar Edhi, donations to Edhi Foundation have reduced to a large extent, which is causing hurdles in carrying out day to day relief activities and service to ailing humanity but the mission started by Maulana Edhi would not be stopped at any cost, Faisal Edhi, son of Maulana Abdus Sattar Edhi said on Saturday.

“Chanda to Edhi Foundation has declined after the death of Maulana and we are in difficult times both emotionally and financially. I would urge Pakistanis abroad to cooperate with us so that we could continue Maulana’s mission of serving humanity”, Faisal Edhi said while talking to newsmen at the inaugural session of ‘Karachi Con-16’, a medical conference organized by Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) here at a local hotel on Saturday.

Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) dedicated the inaugural session of their two-day medical conference “Karachi Con-16” to late Maulana Abdus Sattar Edhi to pay tribute to the internationally renowned social worker and to highlight the importance of service to ailing humanity and relief work in case of natural and manmade disasters in the country and abroad.

Faisal Edhi maintained that Edhi Foundation was going to start the first ever school for training of ambulance drivers, medical technicians and paramedics in Karachi from next month and added that ambulance drivers, paramedics and midwives from entire Pakistan would be trained at the school in Lyari to save lives during conflicts and disasters and to shift injured people to hospitals at the earliest by stabilizing their condition on the spot of accident and trauma.

“Modernization of Edhi ambulance service is a dream of Maulana Edhi, which would be achieved sooner or later but at the moment, we are concentrating on the basic service of shifting those wounded and in need of medical service to the nearest hospitals without wasting precious time to save their lives”, he informed.

He recalled that hundreds of people died during a devastating earthquake in Mashkey area of Awaran, Balochistan in 2013 because there was no fully-equipped and modern hospital in the entire Awaran area and many of the people died due to excessive bleeding, absence of timely medical treatment and surgeries required within a few hours after sustaining serious injuries.

“We must put aside our prejudices while serving humanity or we would not achieve anything. Pakistan can’t be saved despite its sacredness and nobility if we marginalize people on the basis of our prejudices”, Faisal Edhi said and urged doctors to serve the ailing humanity without discriminating on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity or cast.

“That is what taught to us by our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and that was what practiced and preached by Maulana Abdus Sattar Edhi”, he said and felicitated PIMA for dedicating their Karachi Conference to late Maulana Edhi.

He maintained that Maulana Edhi never wanted to get treated at any private hospital as majority of Pakistani poor people could not visit such health facilities and added that on several occasions, he had to be assured that SIUT was part of Civil Hospital Karachi where he received treatment and took his last breath.

“We need to improve the public health institutions to serve the masses and other than that, we have no other option available to ease miseries of ailing and suffering humanity in Pakistan”, he observed.

Prof. Adibul Hasan Rizvi, Director Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) lauded Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) for holding such a focused conference for medical professionals in Karachi and said Maulana Edhi even at his death bed, served suffering humanity by donating both of his corneas which reinstated eye of two persons after his demise.

“Edhi Sahab was the person who brought this scattered nation together and served not only in entire Pakistan but also in the outside world and proved that humanity was the biggest cause of his life”, Pro. Rizvi said adding that Edhi Foundation had one of the biggest fleet of the ambulances, which was not available in any other country of the world except Pakistan.

Paying rich tribute to Maulana Edhi, Prof. Rizvi claimed that Edhi Sahab used to avoid getting dialysis in his last days because he had to collect donations, arrange relief activities and run the affairs of his foundation and even after death, he provided the philosophy of cadaver donation to save lives of other people.

Prof. Dr. Sohail Akhtar, Secretary of the Karachi Con-16 in his address introduced PIMA to guests and participant of the conference and said PIMA was an organization of doctors who feel proud to be Muslims and also serve humanity without any discrimination.

He told that PIMA was running two hospitals in earthquake-ravaged areas of Kashmir and KPK including Muzaffarabad and Mansehra while in Karachi it was running a state-of-the-art eye hospital in Karachi and added that is also running a medical and dental college in Peshawar.

Chairman of the Akhuwat Foundation Dr. Amjad Saqib presented the thematic lecture on theme of the medical conference and asked the doctors community to serve people like Muslims of Madina at the time of Hijrat.  Prof. Dr. Hafeez-ur-Rehman delivered his lecture on ‘Social Responsibility in Islam and Doctors’.

Other speakers including eminent Pediatrician and medical stalwart Prof. Abdul Ghaffar Billo, renowned psychiatrist and Chairman of the Conference Prof. Iqbal Afridi, and Dr. Atif Hzfeez Siddiqui also spoke.

Career Guidance Seminar 

Hundreds of medical students and young doctors thronged the Career Guidance Seminar, a hallmark of the PIMA conference where experts from medical profession and Pharma industry presented a detailed overview of career opportunities for medical professionals in Pakistan and abroad.

Conducted by renowned hematologist Dr. Zeeshan Ansari, the career guidance seminar was addressed by PIMA Karachi President Dr. Atif Hafeez Siddiqui, Prof. Wasay Shakir, Dr. Kashif Shazli, Dr. Jamil Ahmed, Jamshed Ahmed, Dr. Jawaid Mallick, Dr. Muneer Sadiq, Dr. Saad Jillani and Dr. Atif Mansha.

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