Service to humanity is the biggest faith that towers above all faiths in the world, while those ministering to the suffering humanity in different parts of the world like the silent soldiers of the divine providence far away from their families and the media limelight are the salt of mother earth, who beautify this world with their trailblazing noble deeds and actions.
No matter whichever organization and country they belong to, these silent soldiers, full of human kindness spirits, could be seen helping the people — affected by wars, conflicts, disasters and epidemics — with unquestionable commitment, devotion, dedication, impartiality and neutrality.
There are ways and means to better serve the suffering humanity, which turn them into joyous and the happiest persons on the earth. To that goal, around the world, hundreds of thousands of female and male humanitarian workers from all ranks of the society are working to achieve exactly that.
The International Medical Humanitarian Association Médecins Sans Frontières also known as Doctors Without Borders — a worldwide movement of more than 67,000 people working in over 70 countries — is one such organizations that is providing free service to humanity in Pakistan like elsewhere in the world. Founded on 22 December 1971 its qualified health professionals, logistic and administrative staff are guided by medical ethics and the principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality. In Pakistan, MSF works in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, providing medical assistance to the people deprived from basic healthcare. MSF is currently working in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh. In Balochistan, it treats patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis, provides mother and child healthcare services, ambulatory therapeutic feeding centre and emergency response to COVID-19 and measles.
One of MSF programmes is in Kuchlak, catering to the needs of the local and Afghan refugees. Besides running a mother and child health centre and offering outpatient treatment for women and children, the MSF programme includes nutritional support for children under the age of five.
Basic emergency obstetric care is provided through the birthing unit, which is open 24-hours, while referring complicated emergency obstetric cases to Quetta.
In 2020, there were 21,618 outpatient consultations, 4,958 assisted births, 3,492 antenatal consultations, and 5,196 individual and group counselling sessions, while 21,563 children were vaccinated against measles and other childhood diseases.
MSF provides medical services to patients with cutaneous leishmaniosis at three treatment centres located in Kuchlak, Benazir Bhutto Hospital in old Marriabad town, and Bolan Medical Complex in Quetta city. In 2020, 4,988 patients were screened and 3,363 patients started on treatment for the infection.
In 2020 MSF admitted over 8,700 severely malnourished children to the therapeutic feeding programme, and gave antenatal consultations to over 9,500 patients.
Not all heroes wear caps; luckily there are still people who offer their capacities to something bigger than themselves. They’ll be there when an extreme situation arises, ensure medical assistance when adversity hits, and voluntarily face the challenges to make this world a better place to live. We must honour the dedication of all these humanitarian workers who continue to do their jobs every day despite many risks — in the service of our common cause to reach the most vulnerable in our society.