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Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Thousands visit HOPES Health Expo in Karachi


By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)
Around 20,000 people from different corners of the city, besides quite a few from other parts of the country, visited fourth edition of the HOPES Health Expo which was held at the Karachi Expo Centre on January 6. 
Help of Patients in Exigency by Students (HOPES), a non-political patient welfare organization managed solely by the undergraduate medical and dental students of the Karachi Medical and Dental College (KMDC), lived upto the reputation of organizing the Health Expo successfully for the fourth time running.
The smartly turned up KMDC students did the job passionately and enthusiastically to facilitate and satisfy the large number of visitors at the HOPES Health Expo, who were offered free consultation and awareness sessions on more than 20 medical and dental specialties.

The trained volunteers from all over the city managed more than 20 types of free screenings which were made available with the collaboration of Pakistan’s reputed institutions like Indus Hospital, Chughtai Lab and Help International Welfare Trust.

A First Aid Training workshop was organized in collaboration with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society along with a workshop on article writing and statistical analysis.

The core stability clinic by the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) earned the best stall award for being the most informative and audience engaging.
There were fun games and activities for every age group. Towards the end of the day, there were two free cataract treatments awarded to the expo participants via lucky draw along with a trip to the north of Pakistan.

The visitors recognized and appreciated the efforts of HOPES and pledged to join hands with them to carry forward the mission of making healthcare free and accessible for all.

HOPES, a student-run organization based at Abbassi Shaheed Hospital since 1994, has been providing free of cost medical and diagnostic facilities to the patients of Abbassi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases and Karachi Medical and Dental College. They are believed to have dispensed medicines worth more than Rs 105 Million during its 25 years of existence