SIUT training programme: Young students learn how to make beds, give CPR

Hundred and twenty-eight students from across Karachi volunteer for one week at institute.

KARACHI: From learning how to make a hospital bed to performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the young students of Karachi spent an eventful week at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT).

“Now, if someone has a heart attack while I’m around, I’ll know exactly what to do,” bragged Samrah Nasir, a Lyceum student.

Over 120 students from different schools participated in the programme and completed 30 hours of training and volunteer work under the SIUT’s 21st student-volunteer programme.

The training ended on Thursday and the volunteers received certificates at a ceremony. The chief guests at the event were four tiny patients from the paediatrics ward.

Student of class five Erum, a kidney patient, was one of these esteemed and excited guests. Since she liked all the people around her, she felt the event was like a “party”. The little girl said she had a fun-filled week and made a lot of new friends, who played with them, brought them balloons and sang with them. She had received a gift, modeling clay, for becoming the chief guest. She was happy to share the clay with other patient-friends in her room, who all climbed onto her hospital bed to mould coloured animals.

Samrah said that when she came to the institute first she had felt like a stranger but now it felt like home. “My parents were quite shocked at my tolerant and helpful behaviour,” she laughed.

For most of the students it was a life-changing programme. “We thought only a nurse could make the bed and only the janitor could clean,” said Danial, a student of the Karachi Grammar School, going on to share his experience of making beds and mopping the floor for the first time in his life. “And it used to get dirty every 10 minutes,” he said half-jokingly.

Collin Mark Joseph of St Paul’s School, the captain of his team, said that he got to visit the paediatrics ward, the urology department and out-patients department. He learnt how to make a bed and perform CPR. He also spoke to the young patients, comforted their mothers, drew with the children and made them laugh. “For me it was just a lot of fun. It was one of those experiences when you are helping people but you don’t realise you are helping them,” he explained.

The students attended informative lectures on hepatitis, diabetes, heart trouble and kidney failure. The lectures helped to create basic awareness so that the young men and women would be able to recognise and respond to emergency situations.

Divided into groups, the students attended to various hospital duties in the wards, out-patients department, reception and record rooms, assisting patients, nurses, staff and the doctors. They also held interactive discussions on relevant issues and saw an actual kidney transplant on video.

Dr Adibul Hasan Rizvi, director of the SIUT, came to take part in the ceremony even though he had just completed an operation. He said that the programme has been conducted just to make the youth realise its responsibility. Instructing the volunteers to take care of the deprived, he told them to always look after and be aware of those who have less than we do.

The SIUT has a regular volunteer base, many of them choose to go back after their first volunteering experience and stay for several years. These include Zainab, the blind woman who sings to the patients, and Abid Ali, who plays the piano for them.

At the end of the ceremony, everyone sang the SIUT song and slogan, ‘Aao mil kar bantein dukh, sukh ki baat karein’. Zainab and Abid Ali were accompanied by the 21st batch of volunteers, who also vowed to fight organ trafficking and take an active part in community healthcare.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2010.