Friends of Heart

By Dr. Muhammad Hafizullah

“We cannot let him die like this!” implored the young house officer in CCU of Khyber Hospital. It must be early 1985 – twenty six years ago, and Cardiology department had recently shifted from Khyber Teaching Hospital to Lady Reading Hospital. I was asked to see the patient in CCU who had an illness called ‘complete heart block’. He was experiencing frequent episodes whereas his heart would stop beating and he would lose consciousness. There is only one remedy for it and that is to excite the heart with delivery of small ‘electric current’ generated by a machine called pacemaker and delivered through a wire to heart. We took upon ourselves to raise some fund for this particular patient and many more patients like him, who could not afford the cost of a pacemaker. I was new in the city and hardly knew anyone. I started from Lions and Rotary clubs, and then contacted other people suggested by them. I would ring up, introduce myself as ‘Senior Registrar of Cardiology’ and state the purpose without mentioning my name. The response was most gratifying! Within a week, I collected money which could buy three pacemakers. The best part was that almost all came to the hospital to donate money and most wanted to stay anonymous. Lions club, headed by Haji Noor Mohammad, donated a pacemaker. Madame Zakia Minhas, a living medical legend, donated fifty thousand rupees towards this fund. And this started a ‘mission’ which never looked back. We were most impressed by the extraordinary response we received. And in the last two and a half decades, not even a single person has been denied a pacemaker who could not afford it. This fund has saved and provided ‘the spark of life’ to hundreds of hearts and families! Many of the beating hearts in Peshawar, KP, FATA and even Afghanistan owe their ‘stimulation’ to these pacemakers.

Two names need special mention when it comes to pacemakers and saving lives. Prof Amjad Hussain Zaidi, a son of the soil and Cardiothoracic surgeon from Ohio USA and a well known name in Peshawar, made special efforts to bring newer models of sophisticated pacemakers in dozens year after year. This he continued to do for more than a decade. Dr Naeem Khan, a graduate of Khyber Medical College, has been born with a heart made of gold which can feel the ache of poverty. Aware of the problems faced by the underprivileged, he has been donating dozens of pacemakers for free implantation.

 “If I don’t do it today, Allah Subhanu Taala will choose someone better than me to do this job better than me,” were the words of Bilal Rehmat when I offered my gratitude on helping cardiac patients. A businessman settled in Singapore donated around eight millions – two millions for life saving drugs and six million to procure a state of the art Echocardiography machine. The gentleman proved true to his name - Rehmat for hundreds of patients. Cardiology department offers free life saving intra venous injectable drugs to patients who cannot afford it supported by the fund donated by him. That's been truly life saving, when a patient needs a drug that is not available in the hospital and the patient cannot afford, it is procured free of cost.

The echocardiography machine has been of great help in offering definitive diagnosis in lots and lots of patients and also opportunity to conduct research. Total no of Echoes performed in our lab from 1st November to 27th May (seven month) is 10434 and 2257 were done without charges - after establishing their identity and status. This translates to 322 per month and roughly 12.64 patients per day which is absolutely wonderful and optimal use of the machine. Market charges for Echo examination vary from 500 to 1500 in Peshawar. Our hospital charges 450 so by that estimation it comes to Rs 1,015,650 in toto.

“The food is better than what we get at home but the thing I like the most is the way it is served,” commented Mr Mohib, a retired banker, who was admitted to Cardiac Surgical ward for a Bypass operation. It was an ardent desire of some of us to start free food in the hospital but unlike old times when the food was served in a ‘Balti’, we wanted it to be served with dignity and grace to all patients. We wanted our patients to have clean, nutritious and warm food served by proper waiters. We offered Pearl Continental Hotel to start the service but their estimates were far too high. Syed Fayyaz Ali Shah, member of IMC and current owner of Green Hut, came to our rescue and devised a sustainable system where healthy food could be offered to the patients with honour and decorum. God has His own ways of blessing His people and He chooses his special people for special purpose. Mr and Mrs Mohsin Aziz, well known family of Peshawar, volunteered to fund this project on a regular basis. The poor patients admitted to Cardiology, Cardiac surgical and Thoracic unit cannot thank the couple enough. Mrs Mohsin Aziz developed the menu herself and personally ensures the high standard of food being offered to the patients. This has been going for the last four years and it has expanded to IRNUM and Medical A ward. Without any wish for recognition the money is paid to the caterers on a regular basis. And there is always a standing offer for doing more if anything is required more than that.

Our Cardiac Catheterisation laboratory required repair of ceiling and renovation of floor. An angel called Mr Tahir, owner of ACP, came to our help and offered to uplift the laboratory. We needed to develop a special Post Catheterisation lounge, as the number of patients undergoing Angiography and Angioplasty, increased from a few to more than thirty per day. We had a dream and the gentleman helped us translate it into reality. We needed new beds for the ward and he was most forthcoming. The gentleman from Karachi provided us numerical boards for the outpatient department. All this happened after he glanced at the Catheterisation list while visiting the Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory. He appreciated that more than seventy percent of our interventions inclusive angioplasty and valvuloplasty procedures are performed free of cost and more than sixty percent of pacemakers are implanted pro bono publico. Since then, he has never said ‘no’ to our requests, which are invariably to benefit our poor patients.

The purpose of this article is to eulogize certain individuals of Peshawar who proved to be very generous. This is only tip of the iceberg; I can count hundreds of projects in the hospital completed with the help of generous donations by philanthropists. A lesson from this may be for our young doctors, they are encouraged to dream- dream of improving patient care.

When the resources of government are found to be lacking, Allah Subhanu Taala opens many more doors. There is no dearth of kind-hearted God-fearing people in Peshawar. Whenever I have extended my hand, the response has been overwhelming! As a matter of fact, most times, it has been beyond our expectations.