SHE can well be described as a mother of 500 children who are suffering from tuberculosis. But they are just a fraction of the two million active cases of TB in Pakistan.
Fawzia Siddiqui is that mother of five hundred. She supports them with free medication and bears TB patients’ diagnosis expenditure through her Sada Welfare Foundation.
Her good Samaritan activities started when she, with the support of her friends, helped a parent with five daughters to build a house. She along with her friends completed the house which costed 65 thousand rupees. Thereafter, the good work saw no end.
Step by step, Fawzia worked towards her goals and got involved with bigger projects. Then fifteen years ago, she visited the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre. The wards were very dirty and over a period of time, they had been left so for lack of water. She wanted to help, but how? She recalled a gentleman, an Imam of a mosque in Korangi. The young Imam had proven his worth when he built a mosque with an initial sum of Rs48. She sought his help and he obliged. That Imam came with a team of 25 youngsters and they all washed the ward clean free of charge.
Even today, when Fawzia holds an eye camp in Orangi, the same enthusiastic Imam makes arrangements for the camp. Fawzia believes that if Imams of mosques are involved and educated in welfare projects, they can prove to be a great help in redressing social problems.
When Dr Zeenat Isani became the Director of National Institute of Child Health, Fawzia inquired if she could help the Institute. She was handed over a long list of the Institute’s needs. Starting with bed sheets, she has successfully check marked the list. Fawzia was even successful in establishing the NICH’s very own blood bank. It has now been functioning for the past six years. With so much help from just one-person, Dr Zeenat Isani suggested that Fawzia establish an NGO, even offering her a place to function within the premises of NICH.
By now Fawzia had gained the trust of her donors. This is how Sada Welfare Foundation came into existence and it is from this place that Fawzia is now waging her war against TB in children. She is the follower of the theory that usually small children carry TB infection from family members, therefore, screening of family members is very important to eliminate the disease at its roots. Still, Sada’s efforts aren’t just restricted to TB.
It is estimated that around 175 diabetic children visit NICH. Sada has adopted 50 of them, supporting each with gluco-card and insulin. Out of 200 renal-patient children visiting NICH, 50 have been adopted for six months initial treatment. These patients need a lifetime treatment and are fully supported with medicine supplies. The Foundation is also providing chemotherapy every month to four cancer patients of JPMC Cancer Ward. It is bearing the running expenditure of the NICH’s blood bank between a sum of Rs100,000/- to Rs150,000/- per month.
Besides donating a bronchoscope and telescope tubes to the surgical department of NICH, Sada has renovated its general kitchen and the patients ward at the 4th floor. Regular supply of bed sheets continues.
To further her efforts, Fawzia Siddique urgently requires blood screening kits for blood bank, medicines and screening facilities for treatment of TB (x-ray films, BCG Vaccines, culture equipment for treatment of TB), conveyance for mobile TB service, para-medical staff for casualty and neonatal wards and maintenance of neonatal ward and casualty.
Fawzia observes that NICH has a three hundred bed hospital. With every admitted child there is a mother there. Then 1,500 mothers visit OPD with their children every day. For reformers and volunteers, it is the best venue to educate women on health and education issues. At the moment she has a support of five to ten women, but they are not enough. She is trying to involve the children of well-off families as well in her welfare ventures who may not have an outing for just one-day and donate the money for the treatment of a patient child. Fawzia says, “At times only five hundred rupees can save the life of a child.”
SHE can well be described as a mother of 500 children who are suffering from tuberculosis. But they are just a fraction of the two million active cases of TB in Pakistan.
