Volunteering: US alumni perform community service at PIMS

“Due to high population, government hospitals in India are not like this in terms of discipline” says Chunkath.

ISLAMABAD:

More than 200 alumni of United States exchange programmes visited Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences on Sunday as part of the campaign to offer and disseminate the spirit of community service in the country.

Following a four-day gathering of more than 400 alumni of US professional and educational exchange programmes from Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and the US, the students capped off their conference by performing community service at locations across Islamabad.

“There is no such concept of community service in Pakistan and the purpose is to get into it to show how beneficial it is,” said Arslan Majeed, a Global Ugrad alum.

Asif, an alumnus coordinator, told The Express Tribune that another purpose of this visit is to show students how government hospitals are being run in the capital.



The students huddled at the PIMS Paediatric Ward and interacted with the young patients there. Tanzeela Khan from Lahore was talking to Qassam Haider, who fell off a roof and badly cut his lip. Daniel Halooran, a student of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, was assisting her by drawing various objects and urging Haider to draw the same. The children were also given storybooks, colour pencils and posters, which they were instantly engrossed by.

Aadarsh Chunkath from Kerala, Indian seemed impressed by the management and cleanliness of the hospital. “Due to the high population, government hospitals in India are not like this in terms of discipline and care,” he remarked.

Fariha Akhtar, another alumnus from Karachi was of the view that the community service should be part of the curriculum and students should volunteer such activities.

Rizwan Qadir, an organiser who hails from Gilgit-Baltistan, said, “In Pakistan, we only do volunteer and community work in times of disaster, but it must be practice in normal times as well.”

The group was one of three that were out in the capital. A group of Afghan alumni visited slums, while the third participated in tree plantation.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th, 2013.