What would be your first point of contact in case of any health issue? It’s probably any general physician(GP), physiotherapist, pharmacist etc. These health professionals are always in charge of providing primary health care services to people. Primary health service is basically resolving the initial health related issues of a community to avoid any serious health emergency. The health care service providers work 24 hours a day for the well-being of people. The elementary aim of primary health care service providers is to educate people with basic health advice and to enlighten them with the importance of regular health checkups. The regularity in health checkups leads to the early diagnosis of any health issue which will be beneficial for avoiding chronic or lethal diseases.
Many people majorly in underdeveloped or rural areas are neither aware about primary health care nor they know about the basic measures of health management. It is either because of the unavailability of the basic health care services and the lack of knowledge about health care. Awareness about primary health care service is very crucial in order to lead a healthy life. Lack of awareness about sensitive health issues can lead to persistent diseases or can cause worse conditions. That is why early detection of diseases and awareness about basic preventive measures is necessary to avoid any incurable condition.
Now the question is how can you provide awareness and free health care services to the under-developed areas? For this we have a number of health NGOs in Pakistan. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are also considered as civil societies that are working tirelessly for the humanitarian cause. These NGOs are usually runned by a group of people who are benevolent and are working voluntarily with the aim of serving people. Such NGOs are usually non-profitable and are funded by donations, sales of goods, charities and volunteer work.
Just like other health organizations, there is HANDS (Hands And Nutritional Development Society) which is one of the largest health NGOs in Pakistan providing free health care services to the population. They have a history of about 40 years and have a network over 51 districts of Pakistan. Their main service is to deal with education problems, health emergencies, prevent disease by spreading awareness and to promote health by providing free health care services to the population.
RECENT CAMPAIGNS AND PROGRAMMES OF HANDS:
There are several ministrations of HANDS from which some of their free health care services are:
- From December 2016 to September 2020, HANDS funded upto 2.7 million diagnosis tests and have provided many free of cost health services like major and minor surgeries, deliveries, immunization, ultrasound etc.
- With the coordination of Marvi workers, HANDS is working in rural areas for eradicating malnutrition and improving nutrition of pregnant and lactating women and children.
- HANDS established community midwifery schools one in Karachi rural and the other in Matiari district for proper midwifery training.
- HANDS is reducing the gap between patient and doctor by providing doctor on-call service, so the lady doctors can readily address the major problems of patients.
These are just a few services of HANDS. There’s a complete list of their free health care services for the population of Pakistan. HANDS is endlessly working on its vision of resolving the major health and educational issues of Pakistan. It is one of the most successful health NGOs in Pakistan and also a health benefit for the country. HANDS with its 35 branches across the country is working together to eliminate the humanitarian evils. They are prioritizing the health care and educational system of Pakistan to completely eradicate the hurdles coming in the developmental way of health and education.
Website link: https://hands.org.pk/