COMSATS hosts Medical camp

ISLAMABAD: With COMSATS Silver Jubilee this year, the organization’s flagship projects in Pakistan have well expanded to benefit a large number of populations in areas of IT education, internet services and health. As part of COMSATS’ silver Jubilee celebrations, COMSATS Telehealth (CTH) organized an online medical camp. Operating since 2001, COMSATS Tele-health is being housed at COMSATS Internet Services (CIS) Technology Park, Islamabad. CTH is benefitting communities in rural and less-privileged areas of Pakistan through provision of online consultancy services and specialized treatment in dermatology, gynecology, pediatrics, and gastroenterology. The Telehealth project of COMSATS Islamabad, organized a Medical Camp in collaboration with Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC) and Global Institute for Healthcare Quality (GIHQ) in the backward area of Ahmedpur Lama, a town near Rahim Yar Khan District of Pakistan. The population around the Sona Centre where the camp was set-up is around 19000, mostly comprising of farmer community. Only one rural health centre constitutes the medical facilities in the area. The two-day camp served around two hundred patients from the area seeking medical attention for variety of ailments including respiratory infections, skin problems, joint pains, hypertension and diabetes. The doctors at CTH Centre in Islamabad were linked with the patients to FFC’s Sona Centre set up at Ahmedpur Lama. A large number of women and children turned up to benefit from the camp, a number of which also suffered from nutritional deficiencies. All the cases presented were addressed to the satisfaction of the visiting patients that were very appreciative of the treatment they received. The camp not only provided medical care to the patients, but also helped in creating awareness about Telemedicine and its benefits to the medical community and health sector professionals in the area. Having benefitted from the camp, the locals of Ahmedpur Lama looked forward to more telemedicine interventions in future in view of the scarcity of health professionals in the town.