The Sara Ahmad Medical Welfare Trust

What are the issues?

A healthcare system is one of the most essential pillars of any country.

The primary role of a healthcare system is to ensure that any person can get the best available health facilities in a timely, acceptable, affordable, and accessible manner.

However, for a healthcare system to function as such, it requires proper infrastructure and financial support. To a large extent, the healthcare system in Pakistan is facing several challenges. There is a massive shortage of hospitals, doctors, nurses, and paramedical staff. Most life-saving medications are too expensive for people to afford. At times, there is a shortage of medicines in the market.

Two parallel systems exist in the healthcare system of Pakistan. One consists of public hospitals, and the other consists of private hospitals. The former is short even of basic healthcare facilities, and the latter is too costly for the people of Pakistan to afford.

Here at The Pure Hands Foundation, we have developed The Sara Ahmad Medical Welfare Trust. In 2024 we opened our first medical welfare dispensary in Rajanpur, Pakistan. This dispensary ran for a duration of 4 months and is now closed due to a decision to take the dispensary mobile in 202

What did we provide?

What Our in-house doctor would check each patient and our in-house pharmacist would prescribe them the necessary medicines. Our medical welfare dispensary in Rajanpur was open for 2 hours daily, between 4-6pm and was accessible to the general public that struggled with private medical care. We provided over 3,000 prescriptions in the 4 month period!

How much did it cost?

We provided the less fortunate with access to medical treatment. The medical welfare dispensary cost 250,000 PKR* / £700 per month to run, with the support of your donations.

This was a free service for patients to be assessed, diagnosed, and treated by the doctor. There was small fee of 50 PKR / £0.15p if a prescription was required, however this was a set amount regardless of how many medicines or treatments were needed. The reason for this small fee was to deter people from abusing the service, without a genuine medical need.

Anyone who could not afford the 50 PKR prescription fee, and was in need of medical treatment, would be assessed by the doctor and the prescription would be free of charge. We ensured that no person that required medical treatment was left untreated, as our main priority was to provide accessible healthcare to those in need.

As we are a non-profit organisation the small fee charged to patients, was donated back into the Trust, to continue supporting the medical welfare dispensary.

For perspective, a regular doctors visit in Rajanpur would cost a minimum of 500 PKR* to be seen by the doctor, and a charge per medication / treatment at a minimum of 500 PKR*. Therefore, if a patient required malaria tablets this would cost them 1000 PKR* / £2.85. To us, £2.85 may not seem like a lot of money, however in Rajanpur this is equivalent to feeding their family for a week or clothing their child.

No person should have to choose between food and healthcare.

What is happening with this dispensary?

After running the medical welfare dispensary for 4 months we made the difficult decision it. However the great news is, we have decided to take our service mobile in order to treat more people across a vast area. This will be more cost effective, instead of opening multiple permanent premises we can treat more people in need and your donations will go further.

Our plans in 2025

With the decision to take the dispensary mobile, we will be purchasing a van in Pakistan that we will convert into a mobile dispensary, which means we will be able to reach more people in need! The investment for the vehicle has already been fulfilled, and we are in the process of purchasing it. We will be able to travel to different areas every month with our in house team and provide 10 day medical camps for locals that cannot afford treatment. Again, this will be a free service with a small fee of 50 PKR / £0.15p if a prescription is required.

How can you help?

By donating to support The Sara Ahmad Medical Welfare Trust, you will be helping to provide relief to the poor and less fortunate from many illnesses and supporting their general healthcare. Your donations will be used for stocking medication, purchase of medical equipment and associated running costs.

"As much as the thirsty need water, the sick need healthcare"

Please help us to help humanity - one smile at a time :)

If you would like to donate towards this cause, please visit our Medical Welfare donation page.

*Please note PKR/GBP rates are subject to change