InTouch

LUMHS- Problems and Solutions

2010-02-15T17:43:00.003-06:00

Dear Dr Mazhar Lakho,

I have gone through the glimpses of LMUH taken by you during your recent visit of Liaquat Medical University and interpretations on the glimpses by colleagues since last couple of weeks. Most of the colleagues have incorporated the valuable comments and suggestions which shows their eager interest to rectify the problems and solutions of the LMUH. I appreciate their concerns.

Dear Sir I always encourage and requested you to keep on sending the beautiful messages on Health issues once again I appreciate your sincere efforts.

In the light of the pictures

Let us analyze the situation of the Liaquat Medical University of Health sciences Jamshoro regarding the gradually deterioration of the Institution.

In my mind following are the related questions.

Who is responsible to improve the situation?

Vice Chancellor/ Medical Superintendent of the Hospital OR Professors In charge of the concerned wards?

What are the hindrances to authority to improve the situation?

Which MAFIA or IRRITANTS are working against the Institutions?

What are the reasons that Administration is compromising with the MAFIA/CULPRITS?

To find out the solutions of the above questions, we have to look Past of the student affairs and to discuss for the future planning. Only to recall the memory of the senior colleagues and show the actual picture of the Institution to the junior colleagues. What lesson we learned for the future from Past?

In my mind I have different scenarios of the Institution (Exclusively based on my personal opinion and observations).

SCENARIO: I.

During 1969, we students were facing the same situations of law and order for instance, 02 young students of Tando Jam Agriculture University were killed on the railway station of Tando Jam and Mr. Abdul; Razzaque Soomro Lecturer was killed in the Technical college at old wahdat colony Hyderabad by one of the Ethnic group. Masroor Hassan Commissioner ordered to open the fire on the Sindhi student’s rally on 4^th March at Al-Manzar bridge Jamshoro and several students were killed, Hundreds of students from Sindh were put in Jail because of the slogan “SINDHI ME LISTOON CHAPIO”. In this procession all Sindhi students of the Province were at one plate form irrespective to their separate student’s parties. In this rally the prominent Student leaders took part like Masaud Noorani, Lala Qadir, Iqbal Tarin, Yousuf Talpur, Mehmood Daheri, Abdul Wahid Areesar, Yousuf Laghari, Moula Bux Laghari etc.

During 70s at Torri Phattak on the Indus high way near Khanote Students were proceeding to anniversary of Sain JM Sayed at SANN, were killed by army. Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged in Rawalpindi . In this connection I will quote many examples of worst law and order situations in the Sindh Province .

We faced the law and order situation, that is why we lost our 02 academic years, means we were the medical batch of 1978 and passed MBBS in 1980.

But during the worst law and order situations in 70s, 80s, our worthy teachers and administration did not closed college and not stopped the studies in the colleges and continued their teachings honestly with hook and crook and were adhering with the Ethics’ of the Medical profession. I will quote here that our respective teachers were always present in OPD, Ward, and they never missed the morning and evening round in the wards. They never missed any single lecture during the college hours. Professors along with senior registrars and auxiliary staff were available round the clock in the wards. Medical Superintendent had eye of vigilance on the wards/ OPD, no body dare to be absent from duty right from sweeper to prof: in charge of the ward. The regularity /punctuality and the cleanliness of the wards were excellent

I love and salute my professors of LMCH, Prof: M A Almani, Prof: Shafi Qureshi, Prof: A Ghani Siddiqui, Prof: Aqil Bin Abdul Qadir, Prof: Muneer, Prof: Aftab Muneer, Prof; Ibrahim Memon, Prof; Madam Nasira, Prof: Karim Abbassi, Prof: Ikhlaq-U-Nabi,Prof: Azhar, Prof: Raja, Prof: Azeem Mirza, Prof: Irshad Moriani, M S Dr; K Y Ansari, Prof:G M Bhatti, prof: Jameel Siddiqui , and Senior registrars of the concern wards and staff. (Please apologies me if I forget the name of any Proff).

This was the bunch of flowers; their top priority was, to deliver daily Lectures to the students, demonstration on the patients in the OPD/ward, and daily morning/evening complete round of the indoor wards. (May Almighty ALLAH bless them and their families?).

One day we found Prof: Ibrahim Memon Child Specialist was very much worried because he came one hour late in the ward and Dr K Y Ansari Medical Superintendent of the LMUH gave him explanation for coming late.

It is worth to mention here that, Professors used to get admission of their children in the LMUH. Every student felt proud of that he is student of Liaquat Medical College Jamshoro.

On the other hand;

The academic studies were continued under the supervision of the above noble professors of the Institution .The prominent Student leaders were very famous in student healthy and progressive Politics like Dr A R. Bughio, Dr Feroze Ursani, Dr Mazhar Lakho, Dr Khadim Hussain Lakhiar, Dr Moula Bux Junejo, Dr Shah Beg Chandio ,Dr Abdullah Rajput, Dr Amanullah Talpur, Dr khalil Qazi, Dr Zulifqar Mirza, Dr Shaqat Abbassi and so many student leaders . All were in different student’s parties but we could not found any conflict between them. They all were united with the excellent study atmosphere, every student enjoyed during his student life. There was no any MAFIA in the students, in administration, no clash, no killings; none of the student was armed with weapons. Every thing was smoothly running. There was peaceful atmosphere.

But at this stage there was no any MAFIA/IRRITANTS/BYCOTS of the class. Every thing was running fine and smooth. Medical students were publishing the notes on various medical subjects of the course, some of the colleagues issued the Magazines, quarterly magazines on the politics like Dr Khadim Hussain Lakhiar was issuing the Magazine named “ PAGHAM “.

We used to listen the poetry from our medical students like Bulbul Khorwahi (Dr Khan Mohammed Jat) Soomro Sindhi ( Dr Siddique Soomro) in the hostels and college. There was no interference of the political leaders in the college /Hospital.

On Hospital Side every thing was running excellent, professors were visiting the OPD and taking indoor morning/evening rounds even every professor was running his private clinic. Hospital cleanliness was excellent; there was no difference in the General and Specialist cadre.

SCENARIO: II.

After that, the old professors gradually got retirement and the new regime of the teachers replaced the ancestors along with the new student leaders, the situation became reverse, and unfortunately the standards of the college were not maintained or sustained and were compromised at the cost of personal benefits. We all son of the soil are responsible because we could not followed the footprints of our noble senior teachers neither the previous student leaders.

In the mean time the Liaquat Medical College was upgraded to the Medical University . Instead of the maintaining the standard of the University the situation became deteriorated day by day.

Some of the Professors started to give more time to their private clinics, instead of the morning, and evening rounds in the wards, they used to come at the OPD off and on and only spent few time not more than 02 or 03 hours in the OPD or in the ward. Some of the Professors came in the ward after 2-3 weeks and left the ward without taking round. The senior registrars started to quit from the ward after 2pm and only fix the duty of the PG student and one or two medical officers in the ward and registrars run their private clinics in the evening and turn back to the ward on the next morning.

The entire in door patients were kept at the mercy of ALLAH. Most of the serious patients were not getting admitted in the ward unless he/she visit the concerned professor at the cost of his examination fee. Most of the registrars were strictly asked by Professors to not admit the patients in the ward till he/she visits professor first at his private clinic.

No body bothers to check the regularity /punctuality, of the staff right from the University side or from the Administration side of the hospital. Every thing was out of control. The academic administration and Hospital administration compromises with the MAFIA/ CULPRITS for their personal benefits and to save their chair. Both administrations were working without coordination. No body from academic side complaints regarding the issues of the wards through in charge professors neither Hospital administration complaints against Professors and ghost MAFIA of the hospital with the result the patients were severally affected regarding the health care.

The Hospital budget was misused, there were no planning. Indoor patients were buying every medicine from out side in spite of the presence of sufficient budget. Public sector hospital looks like private hospital. The University administration was working as a ship without navigation. Both of the administrations (Academic/ Hospital) were working on the slogan

“UTHRE TUM -------- ITHER HUM”.

On the other hand student’s leader ship was unable to organize the medical students and the by cot of the classes/students clash/firing in the institution was the daily routine in the University. But University administration shows cool response/apathy in this connection. .

In terms of the job responsibilities of the Academic and Hospital Administration, we can superficially discuss their performance individually.

1. ACADEMIC ADMINISTRSATION:

University has the strong administration working under the direct control of the Vice Chancellor of the university.

Registrar
Controller of the examinations.
Director Student Affairs.
Syndicate/Senate.
Dean of various faculties.
Professors/ Associate Professors/Assistant professors/ Demonstrators of various departments.

A part from the other academic responsibilities of the University, the above officers are also responsible for the hospital side administration in terms of the availability of the Professors in the ward. The responsibility of the administration is to maintain the regularity/ punctuality of the teaching staff including in charge professors, Associates, Assistant and the staff of the wards. Admin: ensures that all the teaching staff is regular, delivering the lecture to the medical students in the college as well as in the OPDs and having morning/ evening rounds in the wards. Administration is also responsible to check the wear and tear of the wards, cleanliness and to report any issue pertaining to the ward for the benefit of the indoor patients to the hospital administration for action.

Secondly with the concurrence of the Academic and Hospital administration the monthly meeting should be arranged with the in charge professors of the ward to sort out the problems of the ward and the minutes should be recorded and handed over to Hospital administration for compliance. There fore the academic administration is responsible to maintain the standards of the institution like;

Regularity/Punctuality of the professors in the University/ ward and OPD.
Regular morning and evening rounds of the professors in the ward.
Professors should keep vigilance on the nursing staff of the ward and ensure that Registrars are visiting the patients in the evening or available during the night duty.
Cleanliness, wear and tear of the ward.

2. HOSPITAL ADMINISTRSATION:

Medical Superintendent of the Hospital is well equipped with army of the admin officers under his control like,

Deputy Medical superintendent. (01)
RMOs (04)
Additional Medical Superintendent (12)

AMS (General) AMS (Paramedics), AMS (C& W), AMS (Medical Students) AMS (OPD) AMS (OTs), AMS (General evening), AMS (Hostils), AMS (Medico legal), AMS (Indoor) AMS (Private wards), AMS (Medical Stores).

Chief CMOs(02) and CMOs.
Registrars in each ward of the hospital.

The above officers are responsible to maintain the discipline and standards of the hospital to visit the hospital regularly on the daily basis and report to Medical superintendent to take action. If there is a problem regarding the non availability of the professors, Associates, Assistant, Registrars and staff in the wards, OPDs, COD, OTs it should be discussed in the monthly meeting with academic administration on monthly basis to resolve the issues.

Hospital administration is responsible to take action on the issues raised by the Professors in charge of the ward.

Hospital administration ensures the quality care to the patients with the appropriate supply of the drugs/ medicines to the patients.

Hospital administration is wholly solely responsible to made available all the OT/emergency facilities in the hospital.

SCENARIO: III.

Possible Solutions;

ACADMIC SIDE:

1 To solve the problems of the students, and to take action against the MAFIA, IRRITANTS, those creating the bad atmosphere of the university. (For example: Dr Khadim Hussain Lakhiar was appointed as Director Students Affairs. During his appointment he took serious action against IRRITANTS and till his stay there was no any by cots and blackmailing to the University administration. He registered the cases against the irritants at Jamshoro police station till now he is facing the evidences of the courts at his own. University administration shows apathy on the GOOD job done by Director Student affairs.

2 Secret Branch of the University means SECRET BRANCH; the administration should discourage the political/Elite class to interfere in the branch so that the transparency of the results of the poor medical students ensured. Due to that the restlessness in the hard working students is natural.

3 To reduce the copy culture through awareness to the Medical students by seminars, debates, lectures and exchange inter provincial visits should be arranged to the various prominent and reputable institutions of the country.

4 Brilliant students should be awarded foreign scholarships for higher studies.

5 Regular visits of the administration to the Hospital wards to ensure the presence of the teaching staff including in charge Professors and his ward staff.

6 The regularity / punctuality of the teaching staff should be strictly followed.

HOSPITAL SIDE:

Vice Chancellor of the University is the head of the institution and chairman of the hospital committee. He should conduct the monthly meeting along with Medical superintendent of the hospital; Professors of the ward also attend the meeting with the issues of the concerned ward.
All the professors of the wards should be strictly directed to visit their wards on daily basis and ensure the regularity /punctuality of the all ward staff .( At present some of the Professors are coming in the wards after 2 to 3 weeks , sitting in the office and left ward without round).
Medical Superintendent should submit report of the concerned Professors/ staff of the ward in the monthly meetings.
All the indoor patients should be provided free medicines as prescribed by the Professors and the pathological investigations of the indoor patients should be carried out free of charge.
All the registrars of the ward should not refer the patients to the professors for the sake of examination fees. (Most of the Professors do admits the patients after examining at their private clinic.).
Medical Superintendent should ensure the cleanliness of the hospital and depute Dy: MS/ AMS/RMOs to do the complete round of the hospital on daily basis and report to MS for action.
The attendance of the sweepers and other care taker staff of the wards should strictly be monitored on daily basis..
Similarly one officer from VC office should be nominated to make daily visits to the wards/ college for the cleanliness, in this connection the responsibility should be given to the Director students affairs. The issues regarding the cleanliness should be discussed in the daily/ monthly meetings.

MEETING OF THE POLITICAL LEADERS/PARENTS:

The meeting of the political leaders of different parties should be arranged and the University / Hospital Administration and the parents of the students should be called in the meeting to debate the issues of the students for the smooth running of the University and the Hospital. In this connection Vice Chancellor/ Medical Superintendent take initiatives and prominent Student leaders should take part to facilitate the higher authorities of the University.

FORMATION OF THINK TANK FOR LMUH:

There is a great need of think tank for University; the idea is floated for discussion to incorporate your views and suggestions.

DRAFT:

THINK TANK:

A BODY OF EXPERTS PROVIDING ADVISES AND IDEAS ON SPECIFIC ISSUES/PROBLEMS OF UNIVERSTY/HOSPITAL AND THE MEDICAL STUDENTS.

Aims/ Objectives:

1. Cleanliness of the Hospital wards/Institution.

2. 100% Provision of Medicines to all indoor patients

3. 100% pathological tests free of cost to the indoor patients.

4. Security/ Safety of the Hospital Employee and patients. (AMS/RMOS/SHO/SPO committee should be formed).

5. Visiting hours should be monitored (AMS/Hawaldar).

6. 100% attendance of Professors/other staff of the Hospital/students academic lectures should be ensured (All Deans of the faculty, Director Student’s affair / Top 05 students should be selected for this committee).

7. Student’s politics should be discouraged during the college hours, so that no body dares to by cot the classes.

8. Transparency of the student results should be strictly maintained. No political/ Elite class influence accepted.( VC/Controller/ Registrar Director Student Affairs/05 Top most students form the committee).

Name (Title) ( Suggested).

1…!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2……………………………………………………………………………………….

Areas of Work ( Issues):

1: MEDICAL EDUCATION.

2. HOSPITAL ISSUES

3 STUDENTS AFFAIRS.

3. PATIENTS WELFARE.

4. MEDICAL STAFF PROBLEMS.

5. BULLETIN ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE UNIVERSITY/HOSPITAL.

6…………………………..

ANCHORS (Identification /Nomination)

VICE CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY.
PROFESSORS./MS of the Hospital.
PARENTS.
POLITICAL LEADERS OF DIFFERENT PARTIES/ INTELLECTUALS.
PARENTS.
NOTABLE STUDENTS.
Writers/Poets/Teachers.
Media (Print and Electronic).
………

TORs( Terms of references):

Non Profit Organization.
Policy Institute.
Organization.
Corporation.
Group of Intellectuals.
……………………….
…………………………
……………………….
……………………………

IDENTIFICATION OF OFFICE SPACE:

Arrangements of the first Meeting:

OTHERS:

Suggestions will be appreciated

SCENARIO: IV.

Regarding the poor Patients of Sindh:

Why any patient reaches at the last stage of diseases in Tertiary care level Hospital?

The Health seeking Behavior of the patients (HSB) in our province is very different, especially in the rural areas. During any Health Problem first of all patient use home remedy, then he seeks treatment from Traditional Healers like Hakeem and also get help from spiritual healers like Taveez from Molvi or Bhopo or stay at Shrines. Then he proceeds to near by quack, he treats him on the lump sum contract basis (Now a days like our most of Surgeons treat their patient on Package basis displayed out of their clinics). If the patient did not get relief then he tried to visit any physician at Town. If the lab facilities are not available in the town, after trying few days physician refer the patient to Tertiary care level Hospital like LMUH etc. Now patient is received at the end stage of the disease. If the patient is admitted in the Hospital he/she needs complete attention other wise you may imagine the results.

In this connection I want to discuss why the patients are misguided by the Traditional/spiritual Healers and our qualified Doctors. This is our sole responsibility that when we pass our MBBS or post graduate degree and we are posted at any where in the Sindh Province or establish private clinic we try to guide and treat the patients on Humanitarian ground so that they could not reach at the last stage of the disease.

Now days what is happening in the LMUH every body knows? I don’t want to debate further more. I had been working as Additional MS of the LMUH in 2006 (after house job done in cardiology ward in 1981) and when I compared the time of 70s and onwards. I found the deteriorating of the institution. THIS IS ONLY MANAGEMENT PROBLEM OF THE UNIVERSITY AND HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION:.

May almighty ALLAH keep us under his blessings.

I apologize for the lengthy description of my views. If any body is hurt by my views please forgive me.

I will finish here with the following two sentences.

WE LOVE OUR SELVESES EVEN AFTER MAKING SO MANY MISTAKES.

THEN HOW CAN WE HATE OTHERS FOR THEIR SMALL MISTAKES?

With respect and Regards

Dr Mohammed Bux Bhurgri

LMC (1980).

13/02/10

2009-07-28T16:49:00.002-05:00

Professor Madam Aftab at SANA Convention Medical Symposium.

2009-07-19T12:52:00.001-05:00

The evils in Medical Profession

Salaam,

Dear Dr. Mirza, The information of such a lecturer on payroll of the Faculty of Social Medicine and Preventive Health at LUMHS is 1000 percent correct. Dr. Fouzia Soomro is the sister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Advocate Ayaz Ahmed Soomro, MPA PS 46, Larkana.

It’s really a shame how pathetic and miserable PPP ministers AND MPAs are performing in terms of corruption, kickbacks, and lateral entry illegal recruitments of their families and kinsmen.

The saddest part of this story about this minister is that he is one of the lower middle class cadres of party workers who were brought to the forefront by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. He rose up the party ranks from a worker and president of Larkana Bar Association and all the way to the top where he currently is. Now this is the way the people who we consider “Middle Class Sindhi Qayaadat”, and for which we yearn for as Sindhi Qaum behave. If this is what such ideologically oriented Sindhi leaders would do when they gain power then why should we blame the old Jagirdaari feudal Waderaa of Sindh for usurping and plundering our land, our wealth, our resources, and our jobs?

Similar to what he has done in this case, this gentleman has also pulled his strings for his brother to get him transferred and then absorbed in the Police Services of Pakistan (PSP) as a DSP from the post of Assistant Director in the now defunct NAB (National Accountability Bureau).

Now coming to the problem at hand, the fault lines also lie within us and our institution. The question is why we are so weak morally, legally and ethically when it comes to standing up to such corrupt and third rate ministers and MPAs. Why doesn’t anyone of our Vice Chancellor’s stand up and fight back for running his institution right?

Chief Justice Mohammad Iftikhar Chaudhry has made it happen in front of our own eyes in this age and time. Remember that according to President Woodrow Wilson, “it takes only one man clad up in the armor of righteousness to humble all evils across the land”. But alas, our Sindhi nation is intellectually and politically so infertile now that the nations and ethnic groups we used to consider “His Master’s Voices” and “Saamraaj jaa Pitthoo” during the first 40 years of Pakistan’s creation are now leading the struggles for peoples rights and justice.

The answer is multifaceted and complex to our above question;

1. Generally speaking, the professors and academicians that get promoted to such posts are not made up of the moral fiber that is required to deal with such nasty elements. They budge at the first sign of pressure or threat to their thrones of power and fiefdoms that they run on our campuses. They are so unnerved by the sounds or sightings of provincial ministers and federal secretaries that they even forget to breathe.

2. The likes of Allama I.I. Kazi, who could refuse Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan a personal meeting at Hyderabad’s circuit house back in 67, are now extinct. Now we just have intellectual pygmies running all over the land.

3. For some weird and sorry reason, there is no teacher’s association made up at our alma mater to keep such irregularities in check. One possible reason for this tragedy is the fact that physicians, of all the other existent teachers’ communities present at Sindh, Mehran, and Agriculture Universities are least interested in defending and fighting for their own and their institution’s rights. Call it their intense desire to mint money in Saddar’s famous Doctor Bazaar or their lack of intellectual reading or their extremely self centered worldview, physician/doctor academia is the most inactive and insensitive community I have ever seen in Hyderabad and the remaining interior Sindh.

4. Our honorable current Vice Chancellor is himself a political appointment to the core. He neither has the credentials nor the stature of being placed as the head of such an august institution as Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences. All we know about him is that he has remained the MS of Civil Hospital Karachi and then following Dr. Shafi Qureshi, he also served as the provincial secretary of health of Sindh. During his above mentioned two assignments he was literally a broker and agent for the thugs of MQM. That’s where his source of power stems from and thats how he got this prestigious post of VC LUMHS. With this background, anyone who expects this guy to deliver the goods and prove his metal in the best interest of our alma mater is perhaps living in a fool’s paradise.

5. The current VC Sahab is the silent looter; the master of political appointments with appointment of dozens of MQM recommended Mohajir lecturers and lower grades employees to his credit. The stories of his financial and moral corruption are rampant on the campus, albeit in a very low voice and slow tone as everyone is scared of retribution by him, as he is notoriously vindictive and revenge seeking. The man is extremely fickle and cheap as is demonstrated by the motorcade he uses to escort him from the administrative secretariat to the Foreign Faculty Hostel/Rest house, which is currently serving as his residence while they construct a palatial multimillion rupees VC house for Saeen Jin.

6. His biggest fear is being ousted by the current PPP government as they regard him a relic of the Musharraf era with strong links to MQM. Thus, he has to succumb to PPP pressures as well every now and then. It’s all good for our current ruling “JANTA” comprising of both PPP and MQM.

These were just snapshots of the personalities we are relying upon to safeguard the interests of our nation and its future.

As far as Professor Khoharo and the writing he produced in response to Saeen Ursani Sahabs query is concerned, Sir you should be ashamed of yourself and perhaps should unsubscribe now yourself if you have a shred of any honor or dignity left in you, because I for one will hit the delete icon as soon as I see your name on any posting of absmn. It’s because of people like you that the institutions all over Pakistan consider us the Liaquatians,

Savage beasts from interior Sindh.

Your words and behavior against such a refine, polite, and sophisticated person have truly hurt me and innumerable other member on this forum and I would expect the moderators to do something about this aggravation.

P.S:- I am sure that there would be many of the kings’ men and horses on this noble forum condemning me and cursing me for not respecting authority and that I have misrepresented the real “Sarkaari” truth that only they can offer under oath, so for all of them, I am ready to face your blaze of fury.

Thank you

Dr. Naseer Ahmad Khoso

LUMHS, 2002.

Ziauddin Medical University Hospital,

KHI, SINDH, PAKISTAN

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Star Kids of LUMHS

2009-07-19T12:20:00.002-05:00

We will be publishing posts of subscribers to ABSMN who try to faithfully expose the evils of Medical Professionals in Sindh. Response to these posts will also be faithfully published.
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Dear Dr. Mirza,

This is my third post during the day, and that’s a little too much activity on my part, but I just want to make you understand that when we toil on our computers to give you elders some perspective and picture of current LUMHS, it is not for you to read it like a morning paper and just do some "Zabaani Jama Kharch".
All this is done in the hope that some of our seniors like you would take the fight to the next level. The level, which we may not be able to achieve given our educational, financial and training related liabilities and obligations.
Saying that this is not only a matter of one Dr. Fouzia Soomro and that we should address some other hidden root cause is just lame and clumsy. What other secret, hidden, extraordinary truth are you searching for? It’s just a plain and simple “override of procedure” and merit sort of illegal appointment and that’s it.
Now if someone can file a petition or a lawsuit against it or further run a strong media campaign against this mockery of our Alma Mater, then he or she must act now, otherwise at least don’t say that it’s not just a matter of this one Dr. Fouzia. It just justifies what these people are doing to the system. She in fact should be the first one to be terminated with immediate effect so as to teach other offenders a lesson for all times to come.

I have got some other names of such political appointees and also of some very powerful people’s sons, daughters, and a notorious daughter in law who has been sent for PHD to UK. One of these “STAR” students who happen to be the niece of Director of Postgraduate Medical Education has been kicked out of Queens Marry College, London, for her extremely abrasive behaviors and incompetence after eating off of our institution’s money sanctioned for higher medical education. What about those 10,000 sterling pounds? Dr. Sadia Shujjauddin Siddqui, niece of Dr. Khalique Ahmad Siddiqui (Chief of Orthopedic Surgery at LUMHS and Director of Postgaduate Study Programs) got away with it pretty easy and is now registered as a dual FCPS and MD (Medicine) candidate under the supervision of Dr. Shoaib Ansari in Medical Unit 1 in city campus. Another violation of rules. No candidate could be registered in two degree programs at the same time.

On the flip side, I am highly skeptical of the capabilities of any one of those 20 STAR kids of LUMHS when it comes to successful completion of their PhDs in Genetics, Cell and Molecular Biology and Tumor oncogensis and Neuro biology. It’s been 3 years already and we don’t know whether these politically selected superstar young “Doggie Howsers” are performing up to the mark in UK or not. At least I have never heard an evaluation on them by any of the departmental chiefs.

I won’t take any names here as it isn’t going to do no good and such people will always get away with what they want anyway. However if any of our honorable members wants to do something serious and proactive in this regard, I can provide him/her this information at their private emails. Just write to me.

Thanks

Dr. Naseer Khoso
LUMHS 2002,
ZUMHS, KHI, SINDH.

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Prof. Karim Abbasi and...Please Click on the Picture to enlarge.

2008-06-29T15:58:00.004-05:00

WE ARE THANKFUL TO DR. SHABIR AKHUND OF HYDERABAD SINDH FOR SENDING THE ABOVE PPHOTOGRAPH InTouch

Prof. Manzoor Mirza..Profile.

2008-05-16T10:51:00.001-05:00

Institue of Psychiatry Giddu Bandar

2008-05-11T13:41:00.000-05:00

Dr. Mohammed Azam passes away

2008-03-17T16:20:00.002-05:00

Dr. Mohammad Azam Pathan, 45, died January 27, 2008 in New Jersey . A service was held at Teneack Mosque in New Jersey . Burial took place next day.

Dr. Pathan was born August 1962, in Hyderabad , Sindh , Pakistan .
He graduated from Liaquat Medical College in Dentistry. He married Mussarat Jaffri in 1989, graduate in Dentistry from same College and they subsequently moved to New York .
He completed his dental training at New York University School of Dentistry. Dr. Pathan along with his family remained in New York / New Jersey for his Practice.

He was a loving and devoted husband and father. He is survived by his wife Musarrat and four sons: Basim, Hyder, Jawad, and Adeel.

Kashif Bhutto, MD

Dr. Askar Qalbani..Happy 60th. Birthday..Click on the picture

2008-03-08T15:19:00.004-06:00

We did not know about Dr. Askar Qalbani's Birthday until we received his elder brother's congratulatory message with the picture below. The artistic picture is made by Dr.MamoodQalbani himself and

taking undue advantage, we take this wonderful
oppertunity to wish a very Happy Birthday to a person whose name has embellished LMC's Honour Boards since 1971 and has served to be a Role Model for people like us.
Absmners comments on this weblog are most welcome...Intouch

Photo Quiz..Please Click on the picture

2008-03-07T18:03:00.001-06:00

4-Minutes..on Education

2008-03-07T14:59:00.004-06:00

Below is the four minute documentary provided to us by Mr. Saleem Ursani of Los Angeles. Mr. Ursani is a Life Member of SANA. He has been busy setting up schools in Sindh. The 4 minute very well done documentary is on the Bheel Community in Miranpur and the status of their education.

We will be putting up some more documentaries in future. Mr. Saleem Ursani can be contacted through his e-mail samursani@hotmail.com.

Our Kids..Noor Ahmed and Mahreen

2008-03-06T19:17:00.012-06:00

Almost all parents are proud of their children and yet hesitate to talk about them. This is one of the human behavior of avoiding unseemliness. But then a time comes when you not only talk about them but live for them. I have four kids. The last one is a boy named after my father who passed away in 1996.Noor Ahmed Jr. was born to us three years later in Belleville (French name meaning Beautiful City). Mahreen Lakho

And yes we jumped with joy to name him after my dear father. Some back home in Sindh, as is human nature did not like it, but have grown used to the name and love him more than any one else. He is top in his class. Likes Star Wars, Harry Potter, an Indian Film actor
who has six fingers in his right hand, I do not remember his name even. I too have six fingers but they are in my left hand.
Noor Ahmed speaks Sindhi when forced to. He has suddenly got interested in his roots after returning from Sindh in December last year and says he will go back to Sindh when he grows up . Mahreen is going to be ten years old.She gives tough time to everyone. Has started doing well at school. She specializes in being stubborn for she thinks we got her as a Colateral Kid. She and her other two teen age sisters may be correct. But not any more !

Some More Pictures..Thanks Prof. Saleh Memon and Mahboob Dahani

2007-08-20T11:28:00.000-05:00

Dr. Mahboob Dahani of CMC now in UK on his trip to Germany to attend a meeting of
Gastro. Society.

Some Pictures of good old golden days sent by Prof. Saleh Memon

Photo Quiz 2.. June 23, 2007

2007-06-23T12:51:00.000-05:00

1)Assistan Professor Raja (Anatomy) and Abid Memon
2) Asif Mirza

Professor Jokhio (Ortopedics)
Asif Mirza and Abid Memon (Comedy Show)

Little Asif Mirza before His marriage

..and Little Asif Mirza After his Marriage !
===========================================

Dr. Memon (forgot his name)

PHOTO QUIZ..May 24, 2007, Pl. Click on Pictures to enlarge

2007-05-25T15:56:00.000-05:00

Correct answers will be published next week.

From L-R: Prof. Irshad Moriani, X, Prof. Almani, Prof. Ali Mohd Ansari, X, Prof. Saleh Memon

Madam Prof. Razia Ansari with her Class

L-R: Dr. Afzal Arain with ENT Prof. Jaleesi

Pictures

2007-05-22T17:02:00.000-05:00

Sharaf Ali Shah

Ismaiel Odhejo

Asif's Mirza father in the back ground a top social worker of his time.

Matli Social Club Group LMC 1971

Madam Razia Ansari

Rambling Discussions With Dr. Ghulam Mustafa Soomro of UK

2007-03-10T17:29:00.000-06:00

Dr. GM Soomro in Toronto Canada attending a conference in Nov, 2006

We have added a very useful feature to InTouch weblog which is more than
a radio. It is on the right side( Gcast). Please listen to our first unprepared testing audiocasts. Dr. Ghulam Mustafa from UK and myself try to explain what is ABSMN and how best we can make it a useful and a dynamic network. We have taken the liberty to "viciously" attack some highly ranking members of the network to wake them up. Please Click on "posts" on gcast on the right to listent to all the casts. Reactions/comments on absmn@yahoogroups are most welcome.

.... Mazhar Lakho, LMC 77, Belleville, IL

Chancellor Isra University in ST.Louis-Belleville.

2007-03-02T16:34:00.000-06:00

Prof. Ghulam Kadir Kazi came on a whirlwind tour of Belleville and ST. Louis area in November 2006. Below are some of the pictures taken at that time. Above is the picture of Belleville Downtown during the snow and ice storm which followed immediately after Kazi Sahib's departure!

L-R: Dr. Abdul Wahab Kazi LMC 1967,Thoracic Surgeon With Prof. Kazi.

2007-03-02T15:46:00.000-06:00

L-R: Prof. Ghulam Kadir Kazi with otherwise ever smiling Dr. Anwar Bhutto.

L-R: Drs. Hiralal Tekwani(Ophth. ST.Louis,DMC 1967,A.Wahab Kazi,Prof.Kazi,Anwar Bhutto,Shabir Shaikh, Mahmood Qalbani and Shamlal Tekwani.

The famous Ice Storm ...

2007-03-02T15:39:00.000-06:00

The trees hanging with real ice, pearls and diamonds!!

In the end I thought it would be appropriate to show you my three year old official car, paid and provided by absmners from UK.

Our "Little House on The Corner"

And Stop... Mazhar Lakho..March 3, 2007

SANA MEDICAL SEMINAR, TORONTO July2, 2006

2006-07-08T13:38:00.000-05:00

2006-07-07T20:26:00.000-05:00

Very close to the Niagra Falls in a boat

2006-07-07T20:25:00.000-05:00

Dr. Sattar Shaikh delivering his opening remarks

Dr. Rifat Ansari from Oncologist from Indiana answering to
a question

Dr. Fahmida Qalbani gives her
lecture.

Dr. Fahmida Qalbani delivering
her short lecture on Mamography.
Sitting on the left is Dr. Mazhar Khawajo.

Drs. Azra Shaikh and Fahmida Qalbani at the Medical Seminar

2006-07-07T20:23:00.000-05:00

Dr. Askar Qalbani delivering his
lecture while Dr. Sattar Shaikh
presides the event.

Dr. Mazhar Khawajo AKU graduate
delivering his lecture on "Mind,
Body and Weight Loss.

Dr. Rifat Ansari ..gets some time to
catch up with his sleep.

2006-07-07T20:22:00.000-05:00

Prof. Muneer Junejo on the left

Dr. Roshan Ara Talpur takes some time to sing.

Drs. Jehan Ara Talpur and Shafiq Memon from New Foundland.

Dr. Latif Khuhro (SMC) Pediatric
Neurologist from Cleveland Ohio

Dr. Aijaz Shaikh a Cardiologist in
Indiana meets another
young Cardiologist
Dr. Mumtaz Memon from Michigan, a first comer to the SANA Convention.

2006-07-07T19:20:00.000-05:00

Dr. Valeed Shaikh checking BP of
SANA President. Watch carefully
the cuff is on the "sleeve."

2006-07-07T19:17:00.000-05:00

L-R: Drs Abid Agha(SMC) and Mumtaz Memon (Dow)

Some Ramblings .....Feburary 2, 2006

2006-01-27T18:38:00.000-06:00

Teachers from Neighbouring Villages

Sindh is full of contrasts and contradictions which seem to defy its qualities of diversity.
Primary or Higher education suffers from sheer neglect from every corner. The most
important reason is the inability of the Society to develop a sense of ownership. A government
school, hospital, road or a bridge is some alien property which should only be taken care of bythe officials and citizens job is to just be inert and apathetic as if their taxes did not go into builiding of these basic and bare necessities of life. I found many well educated and retired professors/teachers completely devoid of this sense of Ownership. In brief our much less educated parents had more sense of importance of education, community and society than todays more educated individuals in villages or towns. There was more cleanliness in homes and villages in those good old days. Teachers and other professionals were highly respected then.

School with furniture no building.

School with Building but no teacher and no furniture.

Last year, Ghulam Ali Pasha the Education Secretary Sindh came to Belleville to see his friend Dr. Anwar Bhutto. He had come to the USA to attend some meeting in Washington D.C. and Dr. Bhutto was kind enough to introduce him to us. We had pretty long discussions on the state of Education. It was during those discussions that I requested special attention to the schools in our area since " Charity begins at home". He promised and my trip to Sindh provided me an oppertunity to hold meetings with teachers and villagers. All types of schools of schools were
discussed. Some schools had no teachers, if they had teachers there was no furniture or building.
If there was building than there was no furniture or teacher. I called the Sindh Education Secretary on phone for an appointment and he was kind enough to advise me to bring some representatives of the villagers along with me as he was going to call the relevant educational authorities on local as well as provincial level. Sure enough when we went to see him in Karachi
he was well prepared with his section officers and planning authorities including the District Education Officer. We discussed about 15 schools in Kandiaro, Bhiria and Mehrabpur Talukas.
He made necessary decisions and gave orders for repairs and buildings for Schools and upgrading of Primary schools to middle schools. One non-functioal Boys Primary School was
converted to Girls School.

On a follow up, villagers tell me that they have seen some movement to implement the decisions taken by the Sindh Education Secretary. Hopefully more will be done in the near future and as soon as something significant happens we will be reporting to you on this blog

2006-01-27T18:32:00.000-06:00

The Poor with hardly any hope for their children.

Children from the Neighbouring Awan Village

Meeting with Sindh Education Secretary Ghulam Ali Pasha
( extreme right)

Back to the Roots..January 29, 2006

2006-01-27T18:20:00.000-06:00

Sadda Waah (Nusrat Canal, the name was changed after partition. No one knows who Nusrat was.)

There is a saying that charity begins at home. Most of us follow this saying very slowly most of the time. After years of apathy, I decided to use my tiny clout of neutrality and less baggage to draw the attention of the relevant people towards the social, educational, cultural degenration
of the basic unit called Village.

My once proud village is a tiny village on the left bank of Nusrat Canal about six miles south from Kandiaro Town and four miles east of Bhiria Town. It used to be a self-sufficient social unit full of families belonging to diverse professions. There were teachers, railroad workers, farmers,washermen, pottery makers, tailors, zamindars, iron and gold smiths. There were few shops also
sufficient to cater to the needs of many surrounding villages. We had a small flour Mill too along
with some carpentry shop. Village Masjid, Irrigation and Autaqs used to hum with many smiles and social activities. All that has disappeared now as many people have migrated to the nearby towns in search of survival. Third of the population still remains. The once famous and Beautiful Irrigation Bungalow, beside the Locks of the canal above was buldozed 30 years ago under the pretext of building a large one. The bungalow has been built five times and inaugurated umpteen times on the paper, but on the ground there is hardly any trace.. courtsy
of our wonderful department of irrigation. The sound of the rushing waters through the regulator locks of the canal which used to lul us to sleep in the quiet of the night when we were young has disappeared too. In short smilig faces are very rare these days........

The face of depression and helplessness

About 10 years ago a beautiful basic health unit was built on the out skirts of our village. It must have cost more than Rs.40 lacs.

The Front Gate

It is complete with residences for the Physician as well as for the pareamedics. Probably it is designed for 24 hrs 7 days a week project. Some years back I held free consultations clinics with patients rushing from areas more than 50 miles from our village. But then I realised the uselessness of such efforts and had to stop. I was told that this basic unit has been without a doctor for more than 2 years. Lower staff like patewallas were giving out medicine, and one of the patewallas had opened his own clinic giving injections to the helpless patients and killing many in the process. While I was in my village, I was told that the hospital had been raided by the District Health Officer who found four of the five lower staff absent. The absentees were dually suspended. Later, I was pleasantly surprised that the DHO was one of our friends from Mehrabpur Dr. Irshad Talpur. I made plans to meet him and went to see him in his office in Naushahro Town. He informed me that he had already assigned a physician to our basic unit and he will be taking charge with in days. That was wonderful to know. On a follow up from here, I am told that the good doctor is running the basic unit. Dr. Irshad Talpur on my request was also kind enough to issue a written warning there and then to the patewallo who was practicing quackery. I did suggest to him to book such quacks for murder as per commom sense rules. Let us see what he does to control quackery.

Syed Ali Arshad Shah in the middle, with an Orthopedic Surgeon
to his left Left, standing in front of the CCU of District Civil Hospital
Naushahro Feroz.

In Naushahro Town, I also went to meet one of our classmate and a wonderful friend with Ali Arshad Shah. We shared similar interests in matters of heart during the good old college days. These days he manages CCU in Naushahro Hospital and mends some hearts in Moro Town too. We had a very brief meeting and a very passionate exchange on the USE of ABSMN.

To be continued... Primary Schools and meeting with Sindh Secretary of Education

2006-01-27T18:17:00.000-06:00

front view of the Health Unit.

Patients still came waiting in the waiting room hoping against
hope.

backyard

Dr's Residence never had any resident.

Paramedics residence.

District Health Officer (DHO) Irshad Talpur , LMC Graduate.

2006-01-22T17:59:00.000-06:00

LMC RE-UNION in KARACHI.

On Dec. 23rd, 2005, Syed Sharaf Ali Shah Prof. DMC, at a very short notice arranged the get together of many prominent LMC Alumini working in Karachi. The guests started arriving around 9 p.m. A big Hall was reserved in Karachi Gymkhano on the second
floor. The Hall along with the whole Gymkhano, as everyone knows is old, but still very well maintained with all the cleanliness and fragrance in a city that shows more deterioration, smog and pollution 7/24( 24 hrs, seven days a week) .Sharaf Ali Shah and Asghar Channa were waiting down- stairs to welcome the participants and direct them upstairs. I was seeing
both of them after about 28 years. They have not changed from 30 years ago. While on my way upstairs Dr. Subhash Chander sneaked out from some where and grabbed my hand. I recognized him because I had seen his picture some where. He looked more handsome then his picture. Up stairs in the Hall Dr. Kimat Gul finally saw me for the first time, though I had seen him on couple of occasions in the past, but we were never introduced to each other.

Gradually more friends started trickling in. It took few cerebral seconds to jog your memory and recognize them. Some had not changed while others had drastically changed physically as we
L-R: Nandlal, Jawaid Barakzai and Zakria

ll as intellectually. It was very interesting to cover all these thirty years or so with words and expressions that did not seem to cover the long gaps by any means. Smiles all around, seemed to make up for the times gone by so fast. Anyway, it was very heartening to note that everyone from my class and senior classes were well placed as Professors of Dow, JPMC, SMC and Directors at Federal and Provincial levels. Amidst all the Kachahari, filled with laughters we were invited to tables on the side; well stacked with delicious food such as I for one has never tasted for so long. On the whole, it appeared that the food quality in big places in Karachi and Hyderabad has improved. Although, the hunger and the hungry have increased. Following dinner we gathered in a circle. Sharaf Ali Shah formally opened the discussion with a concise speech followed by a comprehensive speech by Dr. Kimat Gul Khatak, underlining the potential of Alumi Associations in the development of their Alma Maters. Prof. Azhar Hussain, of our times now retired, informed us about the previous attempts in LMC to come up with a viable and serious association. Prof. and former Principal LMC Akhlaq-un-Nabi was also supposed to attend the meeting but could not turn up for some reason. Following Prof. Azhars comments everyone appeared to be extremely interested and gave their very interesting comments. Finally it was decided that a strong Karachi Chapter of Alumini Association be announced their and then, with regular periodic meetings in future. Profs. Azhar Hussain, Younis Khatri and Sharaf Ali Shah will work on data collection and also work with other Alumini of LMC in the interior to hold the Inter-National LMC Alumini Re-Union. The participants in the meeting were asked to write their data on a given form which was dually completed in the end.

...

The gathering inKarachi of 30 0r so friends/Alumini, may have been a small but as the tiny
step on the moon, it definitely is a harbinger of great things to come. The spirit shown by our Karachi Alumini Chapter is indeed very contagious and hopefully will spread all over Sindh and beyond it.

In the end, let us thank Dr. Sharaf Ali Shah for the time and his expense which went in organizing this memorable meeting... MHL

2006-01-22T17:38:00.000-06:00

LMC Karachi get together L-R: Jawaid Barakzai, Subhash Chandar,
Kimat Gul Khatak, Prof. Azhar Hussain, a guest, Shafqat Abbasi,
Amanullah Memon, Asghar Channa.
Dr. Jawaid Barakzai works on AIDS in Losuto South Africa,
he is now on absmn.

Dr. Kmat Gul delivering his comments, on his left are: Prof.
Azhar Hussain, M. Idrees (LMC 77) Associate Prof. DMC,
Asif Bhurgri Vice Principal SMC

Dr. Aziz Talpur(LMC 77) the rebel intellectual of our days,
has changed physically a lot, but not mentally or intellectually.
On his right is Idrees and on his left is Zakaria (LMC 77)

2006-01-22T17:15:00.000-06:00

A group photo of all the participants.

L-R:Drs. Kimat Gul and Younis Khatri (LMC 73). Dr. Younis Khatri
is an Anaesthesiologist at NICVD Karachi.

L-R:Drs. Izhar Rajput and Nandlal. Both LMC 77 graduates.
Dr. Izhar Rajput is a Cardiologist, Dr. Nandlal is in JPMC.

2006-01-22T16:02:00.000-06:00

L-R:Nandlal, Sharaf Ali Shah and Manohar Lal (LMC 77)
Maohar Lal used to be a position holder at times. Currently
he is a Nephrologist in JPMC.

Dr. Laghari on the left explaining a point to Asghar Channa
Associate Professor JPMC (LMC 78)

Dr. Aslam Shah LMC 77, Cardiologist in Karachi.

... Drs Subhana and Razia Shaikh. Dr. Razia Shaikh was of
batch 77, she later transferred to DMC.

2006-01-10T15:40:00.000-06:00

Visiting Isra University:
Pl. note the dates imprinted on pictures are incorrect. Unfortunately I forgot my camera at Isra
and was unable to take pictures at LUMHS campus. Did try taking pictures with my cell phone but they are not clear enough to be web published. Our visit to Isra University and LUMHS was on
Dec. 27, 2005. ...MHL

..Isra University Hospital. Photo taken from its website
www.isra.edu.pk

.. View of Isra

Dr. Pir Bux Khokhar, Director in Isra

2006-01-07T12:03:00.000-06:00

Chancellor Isra, Prof. Ghulam Kadir Kazi, welcoming the guests in the Isra
auditorium.

Dr. Kimat Gul delivers his response and vote of thanks.

.. Audience at Isra

2006-01-07T11:57:00.001-06:00

L-R: Drs. Karim Solangi, Kimat Gul, Nazir Memon & Dr. Kazi.
Prof. Karim Solangi is originally from New York he is one of
the pioneers in Dialysis here. Currently he is in LMC on a 6 month
program. Dr. Karim Solangi graduated from LMC in 1962.
Dialysis Unit

. Kid at Isra having dialysis.

With the Senior Staff Members and Vice Chancellor Kazi Sahib at Lunch.

2006-01-07T11:27:00.000-06:00

Friends,
Unlike people from the Blair Country, undertaking a journey from the Bush Country has always been a gigantic task.More so, if your flights are delayed,connecting flights missed and you are diverted to unknown territories before touching Karachi to face the angry looking Immigration and Customs officials who make sure to create problems if none exist for you, and then in the end you find out that your luggage is missing. You hurriedly and anxiously check your "carry on" , fish for the survival kit and are so glad to find that at least your shaving kit, medicines and camera is with you.Such moments are so exhilerating that even athiests start beleiving in God. I started my journey from ST. Louis on Dec. 15th. at 2p.m. and reached my tiny village about 250 miles north of Karachi at 11 p.m. on Dec. 17, 2005.Driving from Karachi on the so called Super Highway through chaotic traffic is indeed an unforgettable experience and an adventure in itself. I think mountaineers headed for K2 should always count K2 from Karachi instead of somewhere from Kafiristan to add to the length and breadth of their adventure.

Anyway,here are some glimpses of our visit in pictures:
Below are some physicians from Kandiaro town. There are about six hundered physicians
in Kandiaro Taluka with a population of more than 2 million. Main topic of discussion was formation of Taluka Medical Society and Importance of Alumini Associations. Hopefully some of these physicians will be joining us on absmn. One of physician had been to Malaysia for one year. He had to return because of unavailability of proper education in English for his children in remote areas of Malaysia.

Kandiaro Physicians

2006-01-07T11:25:00.002-06:00

Dr. Khoso Medical Superintendent, Kandiaro Rural Health Center. He is LMC graduate of 1985.

2006-01-07T11:25:00.000-06:00

Naushehro Feroze Town has a very functional Ophthalmology Department run by Dr. Ajmal Rajput and strongly supported by Dr. Manzoor Memon of UK who has donated many expensive
instruments. Several hundereds of cataract surgeries and laser procedures are done every year.
Dr. Manzoor Memon who had come from UK was very kind to invite me to see the Eye Ward and meet with persons who have given hope and vision to thousands .

2006-01-07T11:24:00.001-06:00

Besides day -to-day operations, Ophthalmology department is also involved in helping
frequent free eye-camps.

2006-01-07T11:24:00.000-06:00

Dr. Ajmal Rajput on the right.

2006-01-07T11:21:00.000-06:00

L-R: Drs. Manzoor Memon and Faiz Memon. Dr. Faiz Memon is Dr. Kimat Gul Katak's class fellow. He used to be the Director General Health. He is retired now. During our meeting here in
Naushehro LMC Alumini and formation of Taluka/District Medical Society was our main topic
of discussions.

Working in Malaysia

2005-11-24T22:28:00.000-06:00

Malaysia has a warm and humid weather conditions all round the year
but is a beautiful country. Living standards are moderately high but
living expenses are cheaper (except in big cities). This makes
Malaysia a good country to work and live.

Medical facilities are expanding here and medical doctors are needed
both in public and private sector. Emoluments are higher in private
sector but for new doctors, 3 years government service is mandatory
(except specialists with 5 years post-specialization experience).
Liaquat Medical College, University of Sindh degrees are recognized
by Malaysian Medical Council and doctors from this institution are
eligible to work in Malaysia. A simple MBBS with 5 years of
experience can try to apply for job with Ministry of Health Malaysia
(public sector only) as they are eligible but specialists are more
in demand here. Those who have post-graduate qualifications
(specialists) and 5 years experience after their post-graduation,
can also apply in private sector (but only in hospitals with 50 beds
or more).

The employer (not employee) has to apply for registration with
Malaysian Medical Council (MMC). MMC only registers those who are
employed by the Ministry of Health or who are specialists with 5
years experience and have been offered employment by private
hospital with 50 beds and above.

The website of MMC is down currently. Therefore you may go to the
web page of Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) for details of MMC
registration. Alternately, best way is to write to MMC at this
address:

The Secretary
Majlis Perubatan Malaysia
Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia
Aras 2, Blok E1, Parcel E
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan
Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya
62518 Putrajaya, Malaysia
Tel: +60-3-88831400
Email: mmckkm@yahoo.com

(You may not get response from this email address. Best way is to
write letter to them. They will always reply with details.)

Excerpts from MMA website:

http://www.mma.org.my/info/registration/foreign.htm

GUIDELINES FOR FULL REGISTRATION WITH THE MALAYSIAN MEDICAL COUNCIL
FOR FOREIGN MEDICAL OFFICERS

1. Foreign medical officers (M.O.) are only allowed to work in
the public sector.
2. The application for foreign medical officer's registration
need to go through the Institution/Department or Ministry which is
going to employ them.
3. The applying medical officer need to have the basic medical
degree which is recognised by the Medical Council (According to the
Second Schedule of the Medical Act 1971).
4. The applying medical officer need to have at least 5 years
medical experience. Their experience will need to cover at least the
main disciplines, such as the various disciplines of Medicine,
Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology or its equivalent.
5. The foreign medical officer who is/had worked in any one of
the institution in this country is required to present a
confirmation letter from his/her employer stating that his services
are no longer required as well as his work performance/prestige of
work, before he/she is allowed to practice in another institution.
6. The completed application will be then presented at the
Evaluation Committee meeting, Medical Council for consideration
before it is registered under Section 14 (3), Medical Act 1971 with
the Y.B. Minister of Health's approval.
7. The applying medical officer need to complete the following
documents as stated in 'Appendix A' :
i. Form 9 (Law 22) of the Medical Act for full registration
application;
ii. Curriculum Vitae Form (CV) and Form with photograph
„X Curriculum Vitae Form (CV) is prepared for presentation at
the Evaluation Committee meeting;
„X It is advised that forms be type written.
iii. Copy of Basic Medical Degree
„X This document need to be translated into English, if the
original is in different languages (Bahasa Malaysia is exempted).
iv. Copy of 'Bonafide Student Certificate'
„X Only graduates from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh need to
present this document which states the college's name and duration
of course.
v. Copy of Advanced Medical Degree
„X (For those concerned only)
vi. Copies of certificates / confirmation letters of
housemanship
„X The applicant need to submit certificates/letters from the
hospital or Medical Council concerned which confirms that the
applicant had undergone housemanship;
„X These certificate/letter need to clarify the various medical
disciplines and the duration of these courses.
vii. Copy of Full Registration Certificate
„X The applicant need to obtain this document from the earlier
registered Medical Council.
viii. Letter of Good Standing
„X This certificate need to be obtained from the earlier
registered Medical Council;
„X Any Letter of Good Standing obtained from an institution or
an individual will not be entertained.
ix. Letter/Confirmation Certificate of Medical Experience
„X For those who had practised overseas after completing
housemanship;
„X The applicant need to obtain this document for every period
of service from the Head of Department from the time he/she had
completed housemanship up till the time the application is
presented.
x. Copy of Identity Card and Identity Card
xi. Copy of registration receipt for the amount of RM100 imposed
„X This payment need to be made out under the name of The
Registrar Medical Practitioner in the form of cash/money
order/cheque/postal order.
8. For applications that are approved by Y.B. Minister of
Health to be registered under Section 14 (3), Medical Act, an
approval letter will be issued to the employer as evidence that the
applicant is qualified to be conditionally registered with the
Medical Council.
o The applicant will be registered with the Medical Council
after he/she starts practising in this country. The duration of
contract and the name of the institute concerned will be stated in
the registration certificate.
o This registration will only be applicable for the period of
registration and at the institution stated on the registration
certificate.
9. This application can be processed within 3 weeks from the
date the completed application is received.
10. Acknowledgement of full registration will be issued after
obtaining confirmation from the Head of Department with regards to
the date of commencement. (Acknowledgement of full registration will
be processed within 2 weeks)

Note: Copies of document submitted need to be certified by
government officers from 'Group A' or Advocates/Solicitors.

(End of quoted text from MMA website)

One can get job application by writing to the Ministry of Health,
Malaysia, now located in Putrajaya. The new address is:

Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia
Ibu Pejabat KKM,
Blok E1, E6, E7 & E10, Parcel E
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan
Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya
62590 Putrajaya, Malaysia
Telephone: +60-3-88833888

The website of Ministry of Health is located at:

http://www.moh.gov.my

However, this website too is only partly online at the moment. It¡¦s
being reconstructed and will be available when revamped (no idea
when?).

For more information regarding health resources in Malaysia, you may
visit this website:

http://medicine.com.my

Further, regarding visa and permanent residence, please note that
only those who have physically stayed in Malaysia for five years,
legally, become eligible to apply for PR (Permanent Residence).
However, eligibility does not mean they will get permanent residence
in Malaysia. Mostly applications for PR are rejected. Malaysia never
grants citizenship or passport to any foreigner, even if he / she
get PR.

For matters related to visa, please visit immigration website at:

http://www.imi.gov.my/ENG/im_page1.asp

Hope this information will be helpful to those interested to work in
Malaysia.

Mur-Mur...from other lists

2005-09-22T15:27:00.000-05:00

From: Mansoor Qureshi Date: Wed Sep 7, 2005 7:46 pm Subject: [sanalist] Useless discussions - For Ada Ali Nawaz and our sindhi people To: Zahid Shaikh <z_shaikh@HOTMAIL.COM>
mansoorq98@yahoo.com Send Email

Dear ada zahid and ada Ali nawaz

I am very much agree with you .we people are resposnible for our own acts .
i always wonder why our sindhi people are blaming Punjabi ,why they are blaming army or MQM ... obviously if you let others take advantage of you, they will.

Its our fault ...tell me what we are doing for Sindhi .,..tell me the name of any Sindhi leader who is sincere to Sindhi.........i know 1000s of Sindhi's who just talk and talk ,,,,tell me any Sindhi who has done anyhting for the literacy ratio,,,,any Sindhi who wants to educate his own community ..... Has any Sindhi opened up a good school recently which doesn't charge exorbitant fee? Does any Sindhi do any community work? Do we let our women study in good schools, let them build careers for themselves and be independent?

Blaming other communities and not taking responsibility for our mistakes is hyprocracy

We should first educate our community and work together for the prosperity of our own people ,,,, we must do some actions .... education is the only way to solve all our problems ,,,,,and we should seriously work on this issue

Calling other people traitors or crying all the time and begging for sympathy and telling people that we are not happy on 14th august is not the way to resolve issues. we should work together to achieve our goals .....

Do you want other communities to take pity on you and give you charity. No way!! We have to work to secure our rights.

Let me give you an example. In USA, the Spanish community is so strong even though they cant speak a word of English but they are a very closely knit community and fight for their rights. They KNOW what their rights are and work together to secure them. How have they become so strong here in the USA? By supporting each other, helping each other and being AWARE of their rights. How many people in Interior Sindhi are aware of even what their rights are?? I would guess maybe ONE in a million. The Waderas are exploiting their own people instead of strengthening them through education. The people just go to Mazaars and touch the feet of their peers, who dont do anything for them except exploit them.

Just about six months ago, I interviewed around 200 people in Karachi for employment, majority of whom were Sindhis with degrees from Sindh University and other institutions in Interior Sindh. I cant imagine what exactly are they teaching there, cuz their students didn't know anything. Forget speaking English, they didn't even know how to give interviews. While I know that any good MBA Program involves coaching and career counseling specifically. They did not even possess any cognitive skills. I wonder what they are studying in universities these days. Tell me ..... is that because of the Army or the Punjabis or MQM??

I

Regards
Mansoor Qureshi
=====================================

Miami -Florida -USAZahid Shaikh wrote:

Saeen, unfortunately, I at least can't prove you wrong. Recently I visited Pakistan and got back last Monday. I had the opportunity to visit Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Kenjhar Lake, Kambar, and Shahdadkot. Here are some of accounts and observations of my visit.

Karachi:
I saw some improvements since last two years when I visited Karachi. Few more bypasses were built and few are under construction. However I did not see any major improvements in traffic, it seems to be getting worse. Water problem is still huanting Karachi, pollution problem is still there. Monetary value of properties have sky rocketed; two bed room apartment cost about 30 to 40 lakh rupees in Defense and Clifton area. Consumer goods are sold in terms of dollars rather than rupees. It is almost hard to buy anything by the middle class if you are not earning close to what dollar can get you. Law and order situation has not improved, corruption and bribery has become the part of culture.

Hyderabad:
The weather was still nice while I was in Hyderabad, just like the old days. I noticed several new and improved roads, which was nice. Hyderabad generally looked much cleaner and very open, unlike Karachi or Larkana.
I also visited Kotri barrage, there was plenty of water after five years. I Had kachahry with the chief engineer and several SE’s. All of them were Sindhi’s. I asked a general question about Kalabagh Dam whether it is good for Sindh or not. No one wanted to give a clear answer, however, I observe the general consensus was that Kalabagh Dam should not be build. Their comment was, Kalabagh Dam would only benefit Sindh if it is given its due share of water. However, given the history of Punjab obviously there is no guaranty that Sindh will get its due share of water.

Kenjhar Lake – It was a beautiful site. Small Island in the middle of Lake where Nori’s tomb is, you could watch sunset in the evening from the shore of the Kenjhar Lake. I would recommend visiting if you are in Pakistan. A lot of water in the Lake, it was above the desired level of lake, therefore, more water was being pumped to Karachi. It is an excellent tourist attraction and revenue generation for Sindh if it is properly and sincerely promoted.

Larkana:
I did not see any major improvements since past two years. Most of the areas are getting worse. However surprising to see that the businesses (gold, cloth, etc) is thriving, I guess due to the influx of rural population to urban areas.

Kambar and Shahdadkot:
No improvements at all, streets and roads are getting worse, I wonder where all the municipal party money goes. There is nothing to look forward in Kambar and/or Shahdakot area. Law and order situation is not improved. It is recommended not to travel after sunset from either Larkana to Kambar or Shahdadkot and back.

Elections:
Eyewitness accounts. The rigging of the elections were the worse in the history of Pakistan. Everything was pre-planned by the government. I was in Larkana when Chief Minister of Sindh visited prior to elections. He literally and openly warned higher officials of Larkana district that his party must not loose otherwise they will have to face the consequence of not obeying him. In Hyderabad there was ultimate rigging of elections as well, just to give you an example, when people went for voting they found out that their votes have already been casted. Another account, one person was voting 12 times, the media was threatened not to report any real activates of elections.

In Karachi, MQM was fully authorized by the government to manipulate the voting however they liked.

In conclusion, I must say that the poor people of Sindh have been deprived of all kinds of things. Their rights have been repeatedly violated, no one willing to listen to them, they just feel hopeless, there is nowhere for them to go. Poor is getting poorer and rich is getting richer, and the middle class is just struggling, it appears that they will eventually become a lower middle class, Hmm. This is such an unfortunate situation of poor people of Sindh. We always blame Punjab for the sorrows of Sindhi people but I must say that first we need to prosecute our own corrupt Sindhi leaders and Waderas who are the major cause of misery and sorrows of Sindhi people.
Regards
Zahid
============

From: "Ali Nawaz Memon" To: sanalist@yahoogroups.com, sindhorg@yahoogroups.com, sindh-politics@yahoogroups.com, wsc-network@yahoogroups.com, worldsindhinet@yahoogroups.comSubject: [sanalist] Useless discussions?Date: Sun, 04 Sep 2005 14:55:00 -0400

In recent weeks I have have begun to wonder even more, if the discussions on these nets have any relationship with reality on the ground in Sindh.I become surprised by several developments including1. Results of the local bodies elections in Sindh. These have shown that:
(a) Power of the government in terms of election rigging is enormous. The power has been excercised through Sindhi police and Sindhi civil servants.

(b) Sindhi portion of Sindh has gone back to hands of feudal lords and Pirs. The middle class leadership has been eliminated.

(c) MQM has been handed almost all Karachi and increasing portion of interior.Silence on Kalabagh after technical committee report. Even though full details of the report have not become known, it is clear that the committee has supported construction of one are more dam. Since then, politicians of Sindh and the public have become silent. Even previous opponets appear to have become quiet.Sindh is in hands of Altaf Bhai, Pir Pagaro, and assorted landlords like Jatois, Mahars, Chandios, Unars etc. This will be confirmed through election of district and city Nazims. And, water is in hands of the federal government.What will be the result of all this on economic development and welfare of Sindhi people? Probably not much. Unless, Altaf Bhai has some pity on Sindhis and wants to throw some crums. I do not expect even crums from our Pir Pagaro and feudal lords.
Please prove me wrong!Your input and help towards development of Sindh is always welcome.

Ali Nawaz Memon
Sindh Development Institute7204 Antares DriveGaithersburg, Maryland, USA 20879http://sindhdevelopmentinstitute.blogspot.com/sindhhouse@hotmail.com***To effort.

2005-08-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

Iqbal Jafri

2005-08-06T09:57:00.000-05:00

Dr. Abida Jafri and Mrs Falaksher

SANA Medical Seminar

2005-07-16T10:33:00.000-05:00

As before, Medical Seminar was held for the benefit of SANA Community at the 21st. SANA Annual Convention in Washigton DC, this year. Screenings for common ailments were introduced for the first time this along with distribution of relevant brochures and leaflets for community awareness. The screenings included hypertension,
Diabetes mellitus, hypercholestrolemia and hyperlipidemia. Brief lecures were given in layman's language by a pannel of specialist. The program was organized and moderated by Dr. Sattar Shaikh of Kalamazoo Michigan. A Nurse Aid was hired for screening purposes on July 2,3. Attendance was more than at the last Convention in Houston. Over all it was a very successful program.

Many physicians new and old came to the convention and had a wonderful time. Some are
already preparing for the next SANA Convention in Toronto Canada (July 1-3 ,2006). Hopefully there will be more programs for Physicians and Community Education.

Below are some pictures of Physicians and glimpses of the Convention. Most physicians shown here are ABSMN Subscribers. For more glimpses, please visit
www.sangat.blogspot.com.

...Medical Seminar : L-R, Murtaza Shaikh (SMC) Internist N.Carolina,
Salim Khamisani (SMC) Neurologist Florida, Sattar Shaikh (LMC) Internist
Michigan and Shabir Shaikh (LMC) Internist/Pulmonlogist Illinois.

Shabir

Dr. Salim Khamisani

Seminar

Pam the Nurse Aid wrapping up on the last day.

2005-07-14T01:18:00.000-05:00

Dr. Abbasi visiting his son Adnan Abbasi MD. of Atlanta came to
meet his old friends.

2005-07-14T01:15:00.001-05:00

Maqbool Halepoto, Oncologist from Arizona.

2005-07-14T01:15:00.000-05:00

Adnan Abbasi (DMC) found at last. On his left is his sister
and on his right is his wife who is a rheumatologist. They
practice in Atlanta, Georgia.

2005-07-14T01:13:00.000-05:00

Drs Askar and Fahima Qalbani. Dr. Fahima Qalbani had asked not to publish her
picture. But we are taking the risk, hoping that her anger will not last long.

2005-07-14T01:12:00.000-05:00

DR. Shakira Junejo (LMC) from Florida.

2005-07-14T01:11:00.000-05:00

Dr. Nazia Junejo along with her son.

2005-07-14T01:10:00.000-05:00

.. From R-L Dr. Murtaza Shaikh, NC. Rauf Shaikh Neurologist
New Foundland Canada and Saleem Khamisani with a friend.

2005-07-14T01:07:00.000-05:00

Dr. Sattar Shaikh trying to steal a cup of coffee after some very hard work.

PLEASE GO TO ARCHIVES and CLICK ON JULY ARCHIVES FOR MORE PICTURES

2005-07-14T01:06:00.000-05:00

View of the hallway with setting up of booths on the first day.

2005-07-14T01:02:00.000-05:00

Adi Yasmin Memon wife of Dr. Sarfaraz Memon, one of the
Convention organizers making some announcements.

2005-07-14T01:01:00.000-05:00

Dinner being served

Glimpses from the Music Program

2005-07-14T00:58:00.000-05:00

Iqbal Qasim

2005-07-14T00:57:00.000-05:00

Versha from UK with Asif Talpur of Washington DC.

2005-07-14T00:54:00.000-05:00

Dr.Farrukh Shaikh (DMC) Pathologist from Ohio meets Shabir
Shaikh after a long time.

2005-07-14T00:53:00.001-05:00

Ranghan Gopang MD, from Kentucky came to convention for the first time.

2005-07-14T00:53:00.000-05:00

.. Dr. Kishin Kumar Dodwani from Louisville, Kentucky was
also one of the new comers to the Convention.

2005-07-14T00:52:00.000-05:00

...Guest Speakers Session.

2005-07-07T16:39:00.000-05:00

... Childrens' Program

2005-07-07T16:37:00.000-05:00

Kids...

2005-07-07T16:32:00.000-05:00

Dr. Shahila Siddiqui (DMC) Neonatologist from Philadelphia with her Husband. (picture
from Cheryl Convention).

2005-07-07T16:28:00.000-05:00

A view of the part of Banquet Hall

2005-07-07T16:20:00.000-05:00

Dr. Ramzan Unar(LMC) found at last. Neurologist from Worcester, Massachusettes.

2005-07-07T16:16:00.000-05:00

Audience. Dr. Pervez Memon(LMC) from Pennsylvania..with his
son.

2005-07-07T16:07:00.000-05:00

DR. Koshi (LMC) from Carolina meets her classmate Dr. Aijaz Turk
after a very long time.

Profile...Dr. Manzoor Memon LMC22, UK In His Own Words

2005-06-29T16:56:00.000-05:00

Dr. Manzoor Memon with Shool Children in Sindh Jan.2005

I was born in Naushehro Feroze in 1936, after attending a Sindhi
School up to the age of 10 years, moved on to different towns in Sindh with my father who was a Judge.

After doing my matriculation from Nawabshah in 1953 and subsequently graduating from LMC in 1961, soon moved to the United Kingdom. Here I did diploma in Ophthalmology before settling down as a general practitioner with interest in ophthalmology in London.
I with my wife Jamila, who is a Dutch converted to Islam in 1972, visit my birth place every winter to sponsor an Eye Camp since 1996 using school class rooms. Finally we have managed to establish and equip The Jamila Eye Unit in the local hospital which is working since 2003.

Road-Map for Improving Education in Sindh for Sindhis who love Sindh.

2005-06-11T14:35:00.000-05:00

Plea from Dr. Manzoor Memon (Ophthalmologist) from UK

ROADMAP FOR IMPROVING EDUCATION IN SINDHFOR SINDHIS WHO LOVE SINDH AND WANT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.There are 44000 (36000 Primary and 8000 Higher) Government Schools andapproximately175000 appointed teachers. More than 50% of schools eitherexist on paper or function below par. Quality of some teachers issubstandard and some get paid without going to schools!However in some cases minor interventions by the volunteers produced vastimprovement in standards. In a small project in Naushehro Feroze, we foundpaying for one extra teacher was all that required. In one case supply ofschool chalks, blackboard and notebooks got the school going. In a differentproject, a hired bus collected small girls from different villages, tookthem to the school in Naushehro Town Girls' School and returned them totheir homes in the evening thus enabling these girl to continue with theireducation.LET US DO WHAT IS DIFFICULT BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE:1. Find out Government Schools in your village or town or in the vicinitywhich are facing problems. You will easily find such schools. 300 schoolsare closed or partly closed in Naushehro district alone.2. Adopt one School. Appoint a relative, a friend or any locally unemployedgraduate to visit the school and find out what could be done to restart orimprove it. Then take steps to address that problem along the line ofexamples given above. Also get help from the local rich people.3. If you travel to Pakistan, try to visit such schools and partake in theprocess of ongoing help.You can only change the fortunes of Sindh by educating Sindhi children. Weare in the UK and USA because of our education which Sindh gave us. It isour duty to payback. Let us not deny Sindh’s children their basic HumanRight of education.Do you think this makes sense? If yes, then please consider it. It’s Sindh'sLAST CALL.Dr.

Manzoor Memon (Ophthalmologist),

LMC graudate of 1962Essex, UK

A Previous Post

Dear Absmners,

I wish I could begin this posting with the first paragraph from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Suffices it to say that unlike Charles Dickens time, things in LMC used to be better when Senior Students used to be seniors...gracious, helpful and generous; and juniors used to be respectful and humble . Those inspiring times in LMC will remain unmatched no matter where one is today.

Dr. Manzoor Memon is an opthalmologist in UK. He is originally from Naushahro Feroze and LMC Graduate of 1961. He has been on this list since its inception. Recently I had a chance to speak to him and at my request agreed to share the information of one of his recent projects in Sindh. Below is a fax from Mrs. Jean Memon which indeed is very inspiring as well as informative.

Mazhar Lakho LMC 77
Belleville, IL, USA
" Stand for something or you will fall for anything."
===================================

Eye-Camps at Naushahro Feroze

In 1995 my husband and I started eye camps in Naushahro Feroze, the birth place of my husband this town had no had no eye treatments whatsoever. The little hospital had no facilities or even drugs for opthalmic use.

Manzoor started by phoning his colleagues in Pakistan and got a good response. Dr Zia was willing to do the operations free of charge and knew enough doctors to assist him. All they needed was money. Manzoor sponsored the camps by paying for the medicines and the intraocular lenses.

Our club Roatry of Roding was looking for a project. Michael Merrit was our president that year and he whole heartedly agreed. The club gave us a very generous donation of 1000 pounds.

Jean and Manzoor Memon

In those early years the camps were held in a school and it was not easy without basic facilities. They desperately needed an operating microscope and with donations from our friends and the club we bought one. Since then our club has donated a further five hundered pounds and on a very nice evening with a talk from Warrick Barton about climbing in Pakistan we received another check for five hundered pounds.

The local authorities in Naushahro gradually came round to build a wing on the hospital with six consulting rooms and an operating theatre for the eye unit. Last year Mohammed Rahim from the Rotary of Redbridge raised 17000 pounds. for the equipment for the new hospital wing and now they are up and running. The Doctor incharge of the Eye Unit, Dr. Ajmal, started working there with a torch and a wobbly chair. He showed us round the unit when we were there in Dec. 2003 to officially open the unit. It all was a very emotional experience.

Dr. Ajmal has kept all the records since the beginning of the clinincs and they and they have operated on 7000 patients( Cataracts) and helped hundereds by giving them medicines and advice.

The cost per patient is has been kept to a minimumas there is no paperwork involved other than the records. They advertise locally by hanging sheets in the streets and at the back of rickshaws with the information painted on them. Hopefully our club will keep an interest in the eye-camps in future.

From: Jean Memon, Rotary of Roding
Chigwell, Essex

2005-05-02T00:11:00.000-05:00

InTouch monthly...May 2, 2005

Dear Absmners,
It was difficult at one time to gather any material for the current issue of InTouch and hence the delay. But then suddenly material came in pouring so much so that it is hard to publish everything in this issue. We have had tons of pictures making our selection very difficult. Hopefully we will have opportunity down the line to show you our collection. In the meantime if you are interested in seeing more pictures and more senior doctors hard to recognize, you may visit Sangat onlineblog www.sangat.blogspot.com.

We once again are thankful to Drs Iqbal Jafri, Asif Mirza and Mahmood Qalbani for their valuable contributions. And Dr. Nandlal Kodwani for some of the pictures. Last but not the least
we are thankful to Dr. Azeem Qureshi without whose help and encouragement this issue would not have been possible.

Do feel free to write your comments on absmn@yahoogroups.com on the current issue. Without
your comments/reaction it will be hard to keep InTouch going let alone improving it.

Editorless..InTouch
PS. Some pictures have wrong dates, the date on them should be read as April 23, 2005.

Does Advani care about APPNA's Plaque? from our own ABSMN Subscriber

2005-05-01T23:55:00.000-05:00

Drs. Mahmood, Askar and Families trip to India and his views on the raging controversy. (Dr. Mahmood Qalbani is a prominent former General Secretary of SANA)

Dear friends
Most of us (The ordinary APPNA members)went to India for sightseeing with family members and close friends plus added bonus of CME with some tax benefit. we did not go there to build to bridges and most of did not care about that part of the tour.
My few comments are:
The tour was very well organized, considering more than 250 people in the group , most of them very vocal and with strong opinions. The quality of tour was high class, the tour operator and his associates did great job, few practical problems occurred which were expected and were dealt in a professional way. CME was of high standard, we learned a lot about the advancement of medicine in India and the zeal and passion local experts demonstrated about their work was very well appreciated.

Dr. Najma Heputulla, God bless her, is a great lady, she treated us very graciously. I do not care what her personal thinking is, she was genuinely welcoming and extremely friendly making our trip like a royal visit, we should all (who went to the trip) send her a
thank you note for her kindness, generosity and making our trip so grand.

L to R:Drs. Qadir Memon, Mahmood Qalbani and Devan Qalbani

Dinners and evening Galas: Almost every night, we had lavish dinner and some musical or dance program. All programs were of high quality and very entertaining.
Day 1:Music program By a local artist, was actually very good,He sang all kinds of songs and made many of us dance and have really a good time.
Day 2 . A big Gala by Dr. Hepatulla was really grand at the Ashoka hotel. We had Indian Defense minister as the Chief Guest and his daughter gave an extra ordinary
dance program on Faiz Ahmad Faiz's Dusht-E-Tanhai and on Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's songs. Mr. Advani was there too as a special guest, he was probably invited for
being a Sindhi and lots of APPNA group members were from Sindh and more over Dr. Heputulla is changing her loyalties from Congress to BJP,and this would be a good place to keep her new friends happy? this is what I heard at the dinner. Lots of APPNA group members
were very happy running to have their photo taken with Mr. Advani,

From L to R: Devan Qalbani, Mahmood Qalbani, Shirin Qalbani.
L.K. Advani and Askar Qalbani in Delhi.

his wife and his daughter. No one was forced to meet with Mr. Advani. ( I have video recording of all the nice people enjoying their picture taking with Mr. Advani and his family. If any one is interested, I can post this short video as an attachment.)He was nice and very polite to all of us. My wife enjoyed talking to his daughter and Mrs. Advani who used to live behind The Regal Cinema in Karachi close to our flat. I do not think Mr. Lal Krishin Advani really cared too much about the so called AWARD (Plaque).

The dinner at Agra was of Mughal theme, all waiters were very well dressed in Mughal clothes and food was little bit Mughlai. The evening program of female Qawall was enjoyed by ever one throughly. The Rajsthani dinner in Jaipur was out of this world, The lavishness shown by the event organizers was appreciated by every one. I heard some one saying "It can not get better than this", every one to my knowledge was mesmerized and showed their gratitude to the tour coordinators.

Where are they? May be in Jaipur.

In Mumbai, the dinner and the classic dance at The Nehru Center was of the highest quality. The music and seven different dances on the same song was a visual treat. Bollywood night at the hotel in Mumbai was of usual affair as expected. This was probably the only functionorganized by our executive committee and was sort of disaster and wastage of our time. However, Johnny Lever and the main singer were pretty good. Sunil Dutt made fun of us. And the disaster of attempting to do fund raising happened on this night.

( To be continued in our next issue of InTouch)

Mahmood Qalbani MD
LMC1969
Saint louis, MO

Enjoyed the trip to India very much
No sour grapes

VIEW POINT: APPNA, Advani and the plaque —Syed Mansoor Hussain MD

Article taken from the Daily Times Lahore for ABSMN Subscribers interest

The vast majority of the members of APPNA left Pakistan before the winds of enlightened moderation had swept the land and are thus entirely uncontaminated by them. They are still very much the victims of the indoctrination they had endured in PakistanThe Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America, recently renamed as the Association of Pakistani-descent Physicians of North America but better known by its whimsical acronym, APPNA, is in a state of turmoil. Before going any further I must in the interests of full disclosure state that I happen to be a life member of this organisation. A little bit about APPNA first. The organisation is almost three decades old and has the distinction of being the first major organisation representing members of the Pakistani Diaspora in the US. Today, it has almost two thousand dues-paying members, which is an impressive number for such organisations. Over the years, APPNA has evolved and like most of us has become an entirely confused desi organisation without much direction. However, of the many competing purposes that have emerged over the years, three seem to take precedence. The first being its fraternal function, second being the need for doing good work in the home country and third, the need to help its members in the professional and social milieu they live in. This has often produced considerable tension within the organisation requiring an intricate balancing act by the leaders that have been elected over the years.APPNA was founded and initially run by people from the Punjab, primarily physicians from King Edward Medical College (KEMC) in Lahore and their few friends from other institutions. Whatever people might wish to say, this is even true to a great extent today, as is obvious from the fact that of APPNA’s last five presidents, only one has been from an institution other than KEMC. The Karachi people from Dow and other medical colleges, though in a majority, were perhaps always too cosmopolitan to become involved in such a parochial organisation and most of them went on to other bigger and perhaps better things. Somewhere along the line, APPNA was discovered by the Government of Pakistan; affectionately know as GOP in APPNA circles. This first happened in the 1980s when the need to do good things for the home country became APPNA’s primary self-validating purpose. The previous ‘general president’ of Pakistan evidently had a particularly soft spot for physicians, especially those from the US. And, as the Punjabi doctors met the Punjabi general-president, it was love at first sight. In those days, the people running APPNA like most Pakistani expatriates were consumed by their need to return to Pakistan. Frequent trips were subsequently made by APPNA delegations and they were treated as VIPs on arrival in Pakistan. Grand plans about reforming Pakistani healthcare were presented and accepted but nothing came of it. Though a single visit to Pakistan with an APPNA delegation could get a Pakistani American physician a few plots ostensibly to build a clinic or hospital, and we all know how important plots are for Pakistanis. Since that time APPNA’s leaders have been close to almost every government of Pakistan or at least those that were dominated by Punjabis. The present government initially posed a minor problem but that was easily overcome. Punjabis, as we well know, love a man in uniform. And, the present prime minister happens to be one of our own, a real unvarnished Pakistani American expat, and a Manhattanite at that! Also, the chief of the ruling party is about as Punjabi as they get. So, the relationship between APPNA and the GOP became close once again. After 9/11 when the Pakistani American community was in great need of leadership at the local level, the leaders found it easier to concentrate on Pakistani issues. After all what sane Pakistani-American-Muslim would want to take on tough issues like the Patriot Act and institutionalised discrimination against Muslims? Some desultory attempts were made and are still being made by the leadership to offer at least lip service to problems facing the Pakistani American community. However, when the much bruited peace process between India and Pakistan came onto the scene, it presented a perfect way out for APPNA leaders. Always ready for a good time, they decided upon taking a large APPNA delegation for a “good will” trip to India. For some reason that is still entirely shrouded in mystery, during this trip the president of APPNA, in a function sponsored and probably paid for by the current opposition party in India, decided to give a plaque of “appreciation” to the BJP leader, Mr Lal K Advani. The man responsible for the destruction of the Babri Mosque is obviously not quite a hero for the mostly Muslim membership of APPNA. When the news of this award to Mr Advani got back to the US, questions were raised about the appropriateness of this decision, and worse, about the possible role of our beloved GOP in this unfortunate action.It might be appropriate to mention at this point that the vast majority of the members of APPNA left Pakistan before the winds of enlightened moderation had swept the land and are thus entirely uncontaminated by them. They are still very much the victims of the indoctrination they had endured as young people while in Pakistan and thus tend to think of most Indians as devils incarnate.The latest leaders of APPNA after coming in frequent contact with the latest GOP have however been completely transformed. As such the trip to India and the plaque was for them a perfect opportunity to demonstrate their new found enlightened moderation and spread it on to some ordinary members also. Unfortunately for the leadership of APPNA, after living in the US, most of the ordinary members of the organisation have actually started believing in bizarre concepts like participatory democracy and accountability of elected leaders. An electronic media campaign started by some such misguided members demanded an explanation from those responsible. There were even some calls for resignation. The president first tried to defend his actions and then apologised for giving out the plaque, using the “mistakes were made” formulation. Other members of the leadership and organisers of the trip rapidly distanced themselves from this entire matter acting as if they knew nothing about anything. It would now seem that somehow the mysterious plaque of appreciation with its unknown message was manufactured in the US and then schlepped across three continents without anybody, not even the president of APPNA finding out about it until “a hidden hand” forced him to present it to Mr Advani.

Syed Mansoor Hussain has practised and taught medicine in the US. He can be reached at smhmbbs70@yahoo.com

=========================================

Drs. Ashok Kumar and Durupadi's son's Threading Ceremony

2005-05-01T23:49:00.000-05:00

On April 23, 2005 Drs Ashok Kumar and Durupadi held the Threading Ceremony of their son Krishna who became a teenager that day. The ceremony was held in Howard Johnson Hotel close to the Lambert Internationa Airport in ST. Louis with lot of fun, food and Music. Here are some glimpses of the event. For those who do not know much about the wonderful couple, here are some snippets.

Drs Durupadi and Ashok Kumar are originally from Lasbello. They both graduated from DMC. Dr. Ashok was the President of Sindhi Medicos Association at Dow. Here currently is the
President of Missouri State Medical Society. Ashok, after doing his FRCS from UK, did his residency along with his wife in Rehabilitation Medicine in ST. Louis and is an Associate Professor at the Washington University School of Medicine.

Mahreen Lakho dancing to the tunes of Ho Jamalo

Krishna becomes a teenager after the Threading Ceremony

2005-05-01T21:05:00.000-05:00

ST. Louis Crowd

Some SANA Guests

..Omad Shaikh and Amesh with some other Kirshna's Friends

Community Corner

2005-04-29T21:11:00.000-05:00

The 21st ANNUAL SANA CONVENTION in WASHINGTON D.C.

The 21st Annual SANA Convention is being held inWashington, DC from July 1-4. The Convention Organizing Committee headed by Dr. Sarfraz Memon has successfully negotiated a great rate of US $79 per room (up to two adults) with the Doubletree Hotel &Executive Meeting Center Tyson' s Corner. The rate also includes breakfast for two.Please visit the hotel website at:http://www.doubletree.com/en/dt/hotels/index.jhtml?moreDesc=true&ctyhocn=IADLRDT&The SANA EC and the local organizing committee are working hard to hold a great convention, which should be a rewarding experience for the participants. We are trying to invite popular singers from Sindh and also trying to arrange other programs that would be liked andenjoyed by all the attendees, young and old men and womenbeside the informative Medical Seminar by our SANA Physicians. Hotel Reservation:Please make your hotel reservations as soon as possible as the rooms may go fast at that rate. The numbers to call for making the reservation are:

1-800-222-TREE (8733) or 1-703-893-1340.

Please mention SANA to get the above discounted rate.

Registration: Registration fees that would include access to all programs, two banquets and two nights of music, have been fixed at US $75.00 for adults and US $35.00 for children between the ages of 5-12. There would be no charge for children under the age of 5.Please send the registration fees to the SANA Treasurer at the following address at your earliest so that banquet and other arrangements could be finalized in time. Please send all the names in your party with your registration fees.The address is:

Talat Talpur17210 Ambermist Lane
Houston, TX 77095
Cell phone 832-594-2159

SANA RADIO FROM HOUSTON

,

Houston SANA Chapter, has started a Sindhi Live radio program in Houston. Every Sunday starting, April 10, 2005, from 3 to 4 pm Central Time.Not only in Houston, but everyone can
listen to this Radio Program live on www.kile1560.com.

If you live in Houston or in its surrounding cities, please tune on AM1560 at 3pm. Central. all others can log on www.kile1560.com.

The hosts of this program are Ajaz Almani and Noor
Nisa Ghanghro.

Most of the credit for this wonderful program goes to
Mr. Ajaz Almani, he is the one who came up with this
idea and made it happen. We would request you to
please call him and thank him for his good work for
our community. His cell No.is 713-498-4411.

During the program if you have any comments or
FERMAESH for your favorite Sindhi songs you call the
radio station directly between 3-4 Central on Sunday
at 281-983-9292.

Currently Mrs. Nasreen Tareen also does 20 minutes
Sindhi Segment "SUGANDH" every Saturday arround 2:30
pm Central Time. She is also doing a wonderful
program. If you want to listen to SUGANDH please tune
to AM1180.

Houston SANA Chapter

Dr. Iqbal Jafri's trip to Sindh

2005-04-29T20:57:00.000-05:00

Drs Iqbal and Abida Jafri with their Children in Edison, NJ

Dear Editor InTouch
A/A.

Attached is photograph of Jafaria school ,a Sunday school for our Community in Edison which is run by us. We the parents teach our children, this photograph shows I am teaching kids ethics,Quran and other subjects are also taught in this Sunday School as well as arts and language. We have also organized SAT classes for the kids in our community in Edison NJ.

Dr. Iqbal Jafri teaching at Jafria SUNDAY School in Edison

Last month I was in Pakistan for a short visit, I was very impressed to see a
young Physician in Kotdiji, Dr Karamat Thebo who is providing free care to
hundreds of needy and poor at no cost and not only he treats them free but he
gives his poor patients medicines and free blood tests, he respects elderly
patients in traditional Sindhi style like touching their feet. May Allah bless
him.

I was also contacted by Dr Sharaf ali shah on behalf of DUHS at Karachi at the invitation of DrNabila Soomro to be the keynote speaker at the seminar on "Advances in
Rehabilitation"Dr Khan Vice chancellor of DUHS presented me a shield. The seminar was widely attended.

We had organized Eye camps as well as multispeciality clinics in Kotdiji with the help of Dr Sharaf Ali Shah. Lots of poor people were benefited from those camps Aslam Shah and Dr Tahir amin Choudhry and Dr Deedar Junejo were in the forefront of this team of dedicated and caring individuals.

Regards,
Iqbal Jafri MD
Edison, NJ, USA

Daily DAWN Clipping

KARACHI: Experts seek promotion of physical medicine - Retarded patients

KARACHI, Jan 24: Despite the fact that non-pharmacological interventions as occupational therapy and cognitive rehabilitation could do wonders in rehabilitating patients with neurological , cardiac, orthopaedic, pulmonary disorders, and often even congenital disorders respectively, yet physical medicine remains a largely neglected discipline in Pakistan.

This was observed by speakers at a seminar held at the Muin Auditorium of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) here on Monday. They included Dr Iqbal Jafferi, a rehabilitation consultant at the John F. Kennedy Medical Centre, Dr S. R. Kirmani, former head of the JPMC's Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) Department, and Dr Nabila Soomro, a consultant at the Civil Hospital Karachi's PM&R Department.

They observed that there was a lack of due acknowledgment on the part of medical experts regarding the significance of PM&R in improved life quality and considerable self-reliance among patients.

Dr Saleem Ilyas, Coordinator of the Continuing Medical Education, DUHS, introduced the speakers. The audience were reminded that under the Cognitive Rehabilitation Programme for those with mental diseases like Alzheimer, could considerably help mitigate associated sufferings and handicaps of the patients though such diseases might not be curable.

Dr Iqbal Jafferi referred to some exercises for memory restoration, mental alertness, retaining of various other mental functions and so forth, and said that the exercises could enable patients to have a comparatively improved life. Otherwise, he added, the patients might be categorized as individuals with no possibility to recovery.

In his presentation on Recent Advances in PM&R, he particularly referred to the importance of the PM&R in handling patients with cardiac diseases, a fast rising problem across the world which contributed to a high rate of associated morbidity causing loss of qualified and trained manpower.

His views were supplemented by Dr Kirmani who said that a victim of accident, as well as some disease, who would induce trauma causing loss of speech, physical mobility, etc., could be efficiently be treated through speech/physical therapy.

Cleft palate, difficulty in swallowing, paralysis, mental retardation among children, multiple fractures, etc., were further cited to be some of the common instances where PM&R could prove effective.

The speakers acknowledged the importance of medication and drug therapy or surgical procedures, but observed that these often needed to be supplemented by the rehabilitation techniques on scientific lines.

Dr Kirmani observed that a fellowship programme was being offered by the College of Surgeons and Physicians since 1994, and added that despite growing relevance of the subject in the field of medicine, there happened to be no more than 20 qualified physiatrists in the country as compared to 5,000 in USA only.

Dr Nabila Soomro, the only FCPS in PM&R, explicitly discussed the up gradation of the PM&R at the DUHS and CHK mentioning that it would be responsible to develop speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy, besides other rehabilitative programmes for local patients.

The speaker further mentioned that keeping in view the local needs there would also be provision for orthotic and prostatic support at the institution where skill development would also be offered to interested candidates in making orthotic supports as leg braces and prostatic support required to substitute for amputated limbs.

Earlier, Prof Masood Hameed, Vice Chancellor of the DUHS, in his introductory remarks mentioned that the PM&R Department would become fully functional by the end of the current year. The full-fledged department at the old boys' hostel of the Dow Medical College is being developed under the supervision of Dr Nabila Soomro, the VC said. -APP

Family Planning Association of Pakistan ..Dr. Asif Mirza

From a humble beginning to a growing success, Family Planning Association of Pakistan is a glorious tale to tell. It was founded in 1953 by a group of dynamic and educated group of women. FPAP inspite of all the oppositions and taboos initiated the work on Family Planning. IT is member of International Planned Parenthood Federation, the second biggest Organization after UN.
In 1994, after ICPD, FPAP switched over to holistic paradigm approach and started working for Sexual and Reproductive Health. Now this year it is planning the strategy on 5As i.e. Advocacy, Abortion (to save unsafe abortion), Adolescent, HIV/AIDS and Access.

FHH BADIN HOSPITAL
FPAP has an infrastructure in all the provinces including Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK). FPAP Prefers to call the Provincial offices as Regional Offices like Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar and Islamabad. Islamabad Regions looks after little part of Punjab, NWFP, Northern Areas and

..Operation Theater

and AJK. In every Region there are Focus Area Programs (FAP), limited to defined geographical areas, easily manageable, impact oriented. The FAPs are located at Presently there are 13 FAPs, namely Karachi, Badin, Turbat, Quetta, Peshawer, Haripur, Kohat, Lahore, Faisalabad, Chakwal, AJK, Northern Area. This year, FPAP would retain 5 FAPs (Badin, Kohat, Turbat, Chakwal and Lahore).
In every FAP FPAP has a Hospitaql called as Family Health Hospital (FHH). THe FHH at Badin has recently been completed and inaugurated. Previously FPAP was running the hospital in Bagh Mohalla. New Building has been constructed and a very well equipped hospital has been started. Our thanks to the efforts of Prof Ali Mohammed Ansari, Vice President Karachi Region, whose efforts made it possible for FPAP to complete the hospital.
Badin district has suffered from all possible calamities, rain, storm, flood, drought, famine. FPAP is working in hinterland for deserving and underserved people.
Now we need help from colleagues. A Gynecologist would be visiting Badin to see the cases. WE need help from Colleagues of Hyderabad to come to Badin and help FPAP in its work for poor deserving patients of the area.

Health issues in Sindh: A layman's perspective

Editor InTouch

I am not a doctor, but I have been a patient while visiting Sindh. A couple of months ago, I had stomach problem while visiting New Jatoi. It was not serious but it would have been nice to see a doctor. My host took me to New Jatoi Hospital. There are five doctors assigned to the hospital. Around noon time on that day, none was to be found. We were told that a couple are on poliovaccination duty, but others were expected. Unfortunately, none was there.

The store keeper of the hospital was around. He gave us tour of the nice big building. He wanted us to look at the stock of medicines. It was almost empty. I suspect that he wanted us to see exactly that-- an empty store.

I am told that absent doctors and vanishing medicines are common in government hospitals. I am aware that Sindh government has limited budget for health facilities. However, are our health professions making full use of what they have? They are welcome to have private practice. However, do so many of them have to deprive common people of their official time and
steal their medicines?

If our doctors in Sindh who are largely sindhis, will show up for duty and do their work with due diligence, perhaps a fewer people will become more seriously ill and eventually die premature death. Similarly, if the budgeted medicines were acquired and kept in hospitals for the needy public, our health standands will improve just a tiny bit.

Now let us come to the health budget. The health budget in terms of money, staffing and other resources is prepared primarily by Health secretary in each province. Ofcourse DG Health and few others make a significant input too.

To the best of my knowledge, Secretary Health and DG health in Sindh, have generally been sindhis. Ofcourse there have been non- Sindhis too, but most of them have been sindhis. I am told that some of them are members of this net. Perhaps they can give some practical ideas how we can get increase health budget for Sindh and how we can get the vanishing doctors and
vanishing medicines in place.

Best wishes,
Your input and help towards development of Sindh is always welcome.

Ali Nawaz Memon
Sindh Development Institute
7204 Antares Drive
Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA 20879
http://sindhdevelopmentinstitute.blogspot.com/

Profile.. Dr Mohammed Afzal Arain, Fresno California

2005-04-29T20:44:00.000-05:00

Dr. Azeem Qureshi has been actively seeking profiles of ABSMN subscribers prominent as well as the silent ones. He has been sending outline question(below) for their profiles. We have had some success in getting some profiles. Hopefully everyone on ABSMN will take some time to write down their profiles and send them to us as soon as possible along with their pictures....InTouch

Profile:

Place of Birth and Early education
Achievements in LMC
Educational accomplishment
Family
Children and their Achievements
Contributions to Sindh and Community abroad
How you want to help our Alma mater
How we can change conditions in our Medical Colleges in Sindh
How we can help our Young Physicians from Sindh
How we keep our children connected with Sindhi community here and at home
How we can contribute to strengthen our values and community here.

Azeem Qureshi
LMC77
Columbus OH

Dear Azeem ASA
I am very sorry for delay in responding your needed information.
My family migrated east Punjab (Batala) to Sindh in 1921. My maternal uncle was chief engineer of irrigation Sind at British times. I had my childhood at a place called Behan in Khairpur Mir’s and still remember playing and sliding over sand dunes.
I was raised in Mehrabpur and went to Mehrabpur School. In those days Sindhi Alam Fazil was the highest examination and I have the honor of passing that exam. I went to Junior high school at St Xavier School Sukkur and did my Matriculation from St Mary’s high school Sukkur. I went to Government College Hyderabad and joined LMC. After graduation I did ENT house job and residency. I had passed my ECFMG but wanted to stay home and serve my people but when time came for post graduate study. Due to political connections an orthopedic resident was chosen for an ENT slot. He did not know even the basics of ENT and left for Saudi Arabia and I was very disappointed and ended up in USA. I started my residency in Atlantic City and tried to get ENT residency but at several places I was labeled overqualified for the residency. Chairman department of surgery really liked me and promoted me from first year to third year. I did a year of Colon and rectal surgery and joined US air force. I started my private practice in Madera CA.
I have daughter Sumaira. She has graduated from medical school and is starting her residency in Philadelphia. My son Nabeel is in second year of Medical school at Portland Maine.
I will attach my CV for further details.

Mohammad Afzal Arain, M.D.
General and Colo-Rectal Surgery
1019 W. Yosemite Avenue
Madera, CA 93637

(Office) 559-673-8001
(Home) 559-673-8755
(Fax) 559-673-8682
mailto:maarain@psnw.com

Assalaam-O-Alaikum,

Contributions to APPNA:
1. Secretary APPNA, 2002
2. Treasurer APPNA, 2001
3. Hosted APPNA Regional Meeting at San Francisco in October 2000
4. As Chairman of the APPNA Disaster Relief Committee, in May of 2000, I met with government officials, local people, and NGO’s to assess their needs. I therefore, developed a comprehensive report to APPNA and presented a plan to the Executive Council. This was to deliver assistance and relief to the people of Pakistan in the drought stricken areas of Sindh and Balochistan with personal finances.
5. In 1999, I traveled to Kosovo and rendered much needed medical aid and performed several surgeries for the many innocent victims.
6. APPNA (region eight) representative for 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000; instrumental in substantial increase in APPNA membership.
7. Chairman of Host Committee of July 1998 for the most financially successful meeting held on the West Coast.
8. Chairman and chief organizer of the 15th Annual APPNA Winter Health Conference at Liaquat Medical College, in July 1994. This included the participation of the four Medical Schools of Sindh. This was a time of public unrest and turmoil—therefore I took a month away from my busy surgical practice to enable the success of the conference. I had numerous meetings with the army, police, and other government officials to ensure the safe arrival and stay of APPNA delegates. I personally received all of the APPNA delegates from the airport, provided transportation with the appropriate security precautions, arranged for accommodations, CME, tours, and dinners with outstanding hospitality. The President of Pakistan, the Governor of Sindh, Health Minister of Sindh, and several reputable professors of the four Medical Schools of Sindh attended the meeting.
9. Provisions of books and financial resources for the improvements of the library services at Liaquat Medical College.
10. I satisfy the APPNA constitutional objective by facilitating advanced courses and mini fellowships to the Pakistani Physicians in the United States.
11. Member, APPNA Executive Committee from 1992 through 2002.
12. Regularly attended and actively participated in all APPNA activities.
13. Member, Membership Committee year 1996 (Co-chairman for 1996) through 2002. During that period, I was responsible for enlisting new members and the retention of existing members.
14. Member, Disaster Relief Committee 1994 through 2000 and 2002.
15. Member, Bosnia Relief Committee, 1994.
16. Member, Committee for Social Welfare Projects 1996-1997.
17. Primary fundraiser through the LMC alumni for the sponsorship of one village, Badin, Sindh, for the APPNA Sehat Project.
18. Ongoing endeavors and successful accomplishments of provisions for job placements, post graduation-training slots, and visa status adjustments of seven Pakistani Physicians.
19. Founding member of HDFNA (Human Development Foundation of North America), an APPNA membership supported program.
20. Chairman of APPNA host Committee for APPNA winter conference at LMC 2003

Membership in Organization:
Life member of APPNA
Life member of IMA (Islamic Medical Association of North America)
Life member of SANA (Sindhi Association of North America)
Member, California Medical Association
Member, Fresno-Madera Medical Society
One of the founding members of Northern California/Oregon chapter of APPNA
One of the founding members of DFGR (Doctors for Global Relief)
Founding member of “Help the needy of the world."
Board of trustees member of Fresno Madera Medical society 2002, 2003, 2004.
Was elected Secretary of Fresno Madera Medical society 2005.
APPNA board of trustee 2004-2009.

Contributions to Liaquat Medical College Alumni:
Life member of LMC Alumni
President of LMC Alumni 1993 through 1997. Organized and revitalized the Alumni. Streamlined the finances and placed the Alumni on solid financial footing. Responsible for overseeing and centralizing Alumni activities from that time period. Increased membership by 50%.

Contributions to other organizations:
1. Elected board member Fresno-Madera Medical Society from 2002 to 2005.
2. Member of disaster relief committee for Central California 2002.
3. Medical advisor on public health policy issues to California state congressman 2002
4. Chairman Department of Surgery and Chief of Hospital services at Castle Air Force base
In Merced, California from 1997 to 1981 and 1997
5. President of Medical Staff at Madera Community Hospital, Madera, California from
1992 a Chairman Department of Surgery from 1991 through 1994
6. Chairman Quality Assurance Department of Surgery 2000 and 2001.
7. Chairman Surgical Utilization Review Committee.
8. Board member Madera Valley Physicians Association from 1999 to 2000.
9. President of American Muslim Alliance of Central Valley, California from 1995 through
1997.
10. Arranged for transport of seven gravely injured civilians from Bosnia to California
through The International Organization for Migration; provided free medical and surgical care, durable medical supplies, board and lodging and educational opportunities and enabled them to find gainful employment and become useful members of the American Muslim Community.
11. Raised $71,000 for Bosnia Relief Fund, by hosting two major fundraisers.
12. Arranged for donations for complete Laparoscopy set (cameras, Laparoscopes and . Instruments) approximate worth of $75,000 for hospital) in Bosnia
13. Ongoing contributions and donations of medical and hospital supplies to Bosnia on a biweekly basis. Since 1994, I have collected about a quarter of a million dollars worth of medical and surgical supplies, which are still being sent to Kosovo.
14. Donations of Medical and Hospital supplies to the needy people in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Somalia, and Iraq since 1994 on a regular basis.
15. Raised $30,000 for LRBT for treatment of blindness in Pakistan. 2001 and 2002.
16. Worked with the Rotary Club to raise about two million dollars for humanitarian relief aid for Afghanistan.
17. Went to serve, observe and make plan for tsunami victims in Banda Aceh Indonesia February 2005. Presented detailed report and recommendations to APPNA and Hidaya foundation.

My vision:
I would like to take our alumnus on a road to expansion and stability. I will walk hand in hand with all the well wishers and supporters of LUMHS, and inspire the inactive members to make LUMHS a more effective organization. I will make extensive efforts to ascertain the needs of the new Physicians and devise programs to focus on fulfilling their needs. I pay my tribute to the people who have nurtured this organization and have expanded it from a few members to the present stature and I hope to develop a more dynamic alumnus by infusion of new blood as well.
I will continue to contribute my knowledge and experience and my resources to help the alumnus and students.
I will continue to serve our association and have a dream of fulfilling the goals to making it better and stronger. I would like to improve the education and hospital conditions at our medical university. I can only do this if I have your support. Insha’Allah.

Sincerely,

Mohammad Afzal Arain, M.D.
End Of The Current issue of InTouch

The World Mania..Article published in Sangat, SANA newsletter

2005-03-29T20:45:00.000-06:00

We Sindhis never settle for less. I mean, we always believe in universality of things. Local or regional things do not have any appeal for us. They have to be global, grandiose and on large scale. Look at my friend Dhanni Bux and his brothers. They were all normal guys till one day, on a sunny California afternoon; Dhanni Bux came up with this idea of forming an organization called “World Sindhis with Hiccups Organization.” Dumbfounded, I tried to explain him that this was an absurd idea and if he was bent upon forming such an organization, at least he should try to form it at the local level first. I insisted that he rethink and go slowly. But, he would have none of it. So, a week after our argument and with great fanfare, he launched his organization with announcements published in magazines, newspapers, radio, and in cyberspace. He mailed the organization’s objectives and all its laws, including by-laws, side-laws, straight-laws and crooked-laws, to Sindhis all over the world. He appealed them to join hands against the oppression of hiccups and fight for the right to be free from hiccups.

Surprisingly, a lot of people called with different kinds of hiccups and wanted to join the organization. Many more wanted to be office bearers. They sent their membership dues and invited Dhanni Bux to go on speaking tours. Instantly he became popular and people sought his company. One can see his photographs in the community newspaper every once in while. He enjoyed his status but his neck became stiff, his voice dictatorial and his behavior authoritarian.

In the beginning, his brothers and friends volunteered to help him in building the organization. But soon they realized that while he was in the limelight, they were living in the shadows. They were doing the work and he was reaping the fruits. They demanded to share the chair and to take turns in heading some of his organizations, to which Dhanni Bux said no way, Jose. Within the family, they tried hard to dislodge him but he would not budge. It was learned that he was even sleeping with the chair strapped around him. The whole situation was getting nasty. They resented his defiance for not sharing the popularity but an open revolt was against the tradition. So, after some deliberation, his brothers decided to form their own organizations. Everyone rushed to outdo the others. Soon, dozens of organizations mushroomed in the Sindhi community. We had “World Sindhis Do Nothing Organization,” “World Sindhis Big Boasting Organization,” “World Sindhis Talk & Talk Organization,” “World Sindhis for Constant Katchari Organization,” “World Sindhis Against Driving without Drinking Organization,” “World Sindhis for Endangering Endangered Sindhis Organization.” I mean you name it and we had it. We even had one organization called “World Sindhis to Find Other World Sindhis Organizations.”

Then we had different types of World Sindhis Flyover Organiza- tions. These organizations worked as bridges between various world Sindhi organizations. All those organizations have committees and all committees have sub-committees and sub-committees have sub-sub-committees and sub-sub-committees have sub-sub-sub-committees and those, in turn, have underground, aboveground and background committees. There were hundreds of committees to make sure that no stone was left unturned in covering every aspect of community life. It was a monumental job. Only Sindhis are capable of working so hard in creating a labyrinth of committees on paper.

On a personal front, Dhanni Bux was not doing well. He spent all his time on matters relating to the organizations and he lost his job. His wife had to work 10 hours a day to feed the kids. He could not pay the rent so he had to leave his two-bedroom apartment and move to a one-bedroom apartment. Soon he was not able to pay the rent at the new place. He then had to move to a half bedroom apartment, but rent was still a problem for him. From there he went to a quarter bedroom apartment, until, after two months, the marshal threw him out for being delinquent in his rent. He went to live with one of his brothers, who was going through the same cycle of changing residences. I tried to talk some
sense into him. I told him it is easy to form an organization, but much more difficult to sustain it. If you cannot manage your family, how can you manage half a dozen organizations? Get out of this madness. First take care of your family then combine all those organizations into one and together, with the help of others, make it work. Set realistic goals and realistically try to achieve those goals. Confine yourself to a local area and give careful thought before bragging to reach out the world. Creating hype is not only waste of time but is also dangerous for the community. But my arguments fell on deaf ears.

First the community was excited. Everyone wanted to be on the committees. They were swamped with offers of joining everyone’s committee. There were so many committees and so many offers that, to please a relative or a friend, people became members of 20 or 30 committees at the same time. Slowly the act of praising one’s organization and denouncing the others started. Every organization claimed it was original and the others fake. They claimed to be true patriots and called the others true traitors. A fierce competition ensued. Relatives and friends pushed and pulled till the whole community went berserk.

Eventually we came to a point where people started running from the organizations. Instead of ‘No Solicitation’, people hung ‘No Organizations’ notices on their front doors. Invitation cards for social events carried in bold letters ‘No Agents of any Organization Allowed.’ There was a great commotion and turmoil in the community. People started waking up, perspiring, in the middle of the night, having a nightmare of being asked to enroll in a World Sindhi Organization. Lots of Sindhis found that they were having some kind of medical disorder. The situation was very grave until the doctors discovered a new disease. The discovery was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and was called ‘World Sindhi Syndrome.’

Then the climax came. One day when Bux brothers were, as usual, engaged in organizational meetings their wives ran out of patience. They bought some mean and nasty looking batons from an organization called “World Sindhi Mula Bux Organization” and waited for the night. The rest you can imagine…

For next six weeks Bux brothers had their joints fixed at the World Sindhi Chiropractic Organization. The community left them to stew in their own juices. Finally a lull settled on the Sindhi community and people took a breath of relief.

After six months or so, we found ourselves in a party sitting with Dhanni Bux. We were very pleased to see him. He looked mellow but otherwise fine. He’d forgotten about the world Sindhi organizations but still being a Sindhi could not help but feed grandiose ideas. I asked him if he is now over with that world mania. He said in a husky voice: “World organizations are too small for me. So, now, I am thinking of forming a new entity called “Union of Sindhis from Mars.” While some of us nearly fainted, the rest of us looked up at the sky and sighed.

(Mr. Ashraf Memon lives in Torrance, CA, with his wife and two children)

“

2005-03-19T10:43:00.000-06:00

2005-03-12T11:51:00.000-06:00

Late Dr Saheh Memon

A tribute to Dr Saleh Memon, a well-loved teacher

2005-03-12T10:51:00.000-06:00

By Dr Faiz Ilahi Memon

Professor Dr Saleh Memon was from Diplo, a village in Thar.

An institution by himself, Dr Saleh Memon passed away peacefully on 30th January 2005 after a long, rewarding and illustrious career in the Sindh Health Service. Born in 1926 to a school teacher, Sain Haji Abu Talib, Saleh Memon, in pursuit of education travelled to Mirpurkhas, Karachi and then subsequently to Grant's Medical College, Bombay in undivided sub-continent all along securing first class first.

In 1947, Saleh Memon came back to Pakistan and was enrolled at Dow Medical College, Karachi from where he graduated in the first batch in 1950. After serving as Director Blood Bank, Hyderabad, and RMO, Services Hospital, Karachi, he was assigned the task of building a district hospital at Jacobabad which he successfully accomplished in 1954.

In recognition of his devotion to duty Saleh Memon was given government scholarship in 1954 to do post-graduation in United Kingdom. Once there, he undoubtedly brought good name to the country by completing degrees such as DCH (London), MRCP (London), MRCP (Edin) and FRFPS (Glasgow).

After a meritorious career at Liaquat Medical College, he was rewarded to become Liaquat Medical College's principal in 1970, a post he held till 1972 with dignity and poise.

From 1972 to 1979, Professor Memon served as Professor of Medicine at Dow Medical College, Karachi, his alma mater. Then he was appointed as Secretary Health to Sindh Government till 1979, a post that he held with complete dignity. It. was during this period that he introduced the concept of Basic Health Units and School Health Service. Again responding to national duty, he assumed the charge of Secretary Health for the second time in 1984, a job that he held till his retirement in April 1986. Indeed I am guilty of reading his personal diary dated 26/4/1986 which says, "Have gracefully retired today after completing 36 years of service. Allah be praised".

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Dr Masood Shaikh delivering guest lecture at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, Sindh.

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Dr. Mohammad Masood Shaikh from Yuma, Arizona, USA (a graduate of LMC 82) went to Hyderabad, Sindh. At LUMHS he presented a set of JAMA 2004 journals to the Vice Chancellor, LUMHS. He also delivered a lecture to final year and post graduate students at University.

Dr. Kimat Gul's Interview

2005-02-20T20:33:00.001-06:00

Dr. Kimat Gul Khatak is LMC 1962 Graduate. He is a Car-
diologist in Henley Massachusettes. We interviewed him
on phone using our Audiopost feature. Please click on icons
below to listen to him. Each segment is of four minutes. To
begin click the icon at the bottom first.

2005-02-20T20:33:00.000-06:00

2005-02-20T20:28:00.000-06:00

2005-02-20T20:23:00.000-06:00