Two 40-foot ocean freight containers of medical supplies were brought to Lady Reading Hospital just days before the horrifying shooting at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, in December that left at least 145 people dead (most of them children). The hospital would soon become the site where most of the people injured were rushed to […]
A personal story to mark World Sight Day
October 9th 2014 is marked as World Sight Day, a day to focus international attention on blindness and vision impairment. On the occasion of World Sight Day, I’d like to share my story about sight. I will connect it to the eye-care situation in Pakistan and hope that it will inspire more interest and efforts […]
The Right to Reproductive Healthcare in Pakistan: The Voice of Women
This comment summarizes the key findings of the captioned report. The full report can be accessed here. As a context it is important to recognize that Pakistan’s slow progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 is reflected in its high burden of maternal and child mortality, third highest on the international platform. The […]
Homeless woman with a broken wrist
The phenomenon of homelessness is one of the worst forms of urban poverty and social vulnerability. No one wants to be homeless by choice. Women constitute one of the groups worst affected by homelessness. While the phenomenon of homelessness violates the most basic of human rights for all populations, women without a home and living […]
A 37 year old with heart disease
The young male heart is under attack. Nadeem, a 37 year old heart aged faster than his real age. He had a very advanced heart disease that is typically founded in elderly patients. He was a heavy smoker, had worked hard on several jobs to support a family of 7, and was the sole bread […]
The boy from Toba Tek Singh
Javed is a 29 year old bread-earner from a small village near Toba Tek Singh. He got seriously injured in a road accident. The whole family got disturbed as all of them were entirely dependent on him. The victim as well as the family had to face untold hardships and miseries. The primary hardship was […]
Poverty and cardiac diseases
Mitral valve replacement is a cardiac surgical procedure to either repair or replace the mitral valve in the heart. In the case of Tariq doctors opted for mitral valve replacement as repair of the mitral valve could not have been performed successfully in his case. Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) including heart disease are on the rise […]
Leg Amputation: a triple threat
As a result of a motorcycle accident at the age of 33, Zeeshan’s leg had to be amputated below the knee. He was treated for a month and a half but the injury was further complicated and the fear of gangrene loomed. The lower part of the leg was totally destroyed. The infection was so […]
Poverty and tuberculosis reinforce each other
A 30 year-old male patient was admitted to Lady Reading hospital in Peshawar with 2 months history of high fever, cough and shortness of breath and chest pain. He shared of anxieties of being sick for so long. Imtiaz spoke of ten or more episodes of fever and cough over more than two months, each […]
Ali Hasan, a victim of hit-and-run accident
Eight year-old Ali Hassan was a victim of a hit-and-run accident. Coming from a dysfunctional family, he also suffered parental neglect following abandonment by his father, and family violence. His mother had sent him, along with his older sister, to work as domestic workers. His tasks included dish-washing and cleaning of the car. Their wages […]
