Hyderabad: In a first for a place of worship in Hyderabad, a mosque in Langar Houz has opened its doors for setting up a free dialysis care facility.
The state-of-the-art facility, which was inaugurated on Thursday at Masjid-e-Mohammadia at Langar Houz, was set up by the NGOs Helping Hand Foundation and SEED, USA. The renal patients from the weaker and poorer sectors would benefit from this full-fledged haemodialysis unit, regardless of their caste or faith.
“Since patients incur between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 4 lakh annually at corporate hospitals, we have decided to set up the free dialysis care facility so that the underprivileged can use the facilities for free. This is the first time that space in a mosque is being utilized for a free dialysis centre. If there is a positive response, we will create more facilities of this nature in the future,” according to Mujtaba Hasan Askari of the Helping Hand Foundation (HHF), one of the project’s partners, who spoke to Deccan Chronicle.
As part of this, five clinics and an orphanage home are already operating at mosques in different parts of the city, thanks to Jamiat Ahle Hadees, the Islamic organisation in-charge of managing mosque activities.
The city president of Jamiat Ahle Hadees, Shafeeq Alam Khan Jamae, stated that HHF had developed this idea even though they were preparing to donate space for the establishment of a new free clinic as part of their social activities.
“We thought this would be a wonderful idea since dialysis patients are left with little options due to the enormous expenditures involved in treatment,” Khan remarked.
Five new Fresenius brand machines will be added to the centre within the next three months, according to HHF. The free dialysis facility will be managed medically by renowned consultant nephrologist and kidney transplant surgeon Dr. Shoeb Ali Khan.
A medical doctor, ANMs, dialysis technicians, and an ambulance will be on call from 8 am to 8 pm. “We have invested approximately Rs 45 lakh for the initial setup of this unit through our donors and the monthly operational cost of approximately Rs 2 lakh will be managed by HHF,” informed Syed Mazharuddin Hussaini, executive director of SEED.
