Minutes from the Ashara Medical Team Meeting in Houston, 9/26/15

Brief outline of major points discussed during the meeting of the Medical Team in Houston on Saturday, 9/26 –

Medical seminar and networking

Due to time crunch we may not be able to conduct official CME, however we can meet daily from 3:30 – 5:00 pm in a dedicated area with AV facilities and conduct medical lectures on topics of interest. This will also provide an excellent opportunity for networking.

Araz to Moula TUS for qadambosi and ziyafat

We will collect information of all physicians, dentists and allied medical professionals (practicing and students) and collectively present our khidmat and niaz to Aali Qadar Moula TUS. Subject to raza we may present ziyafat and qadambosi during Ashara ayyam.

Registration reminder

These initiatives will be coordinated by SBMAA. If you have not yet registered for SBMAA, please do so immediately at sbmedical.org/register so that you do not miss out on any critical information pertaining to these initiatives or other crucial details. You may also join the WhatsApp broadcast list by sending a Whatsapp message to Shk Aziz bhai Poonawalla on whatsapp at 832-654-5221. We also strongly encourage you to subscribe to SBMAA by entering your email address on the signup form and click the green “Subscribe” button on the left side of the sbmedical.org homepage.

Please also be sure to register your intention for khidmat at HoustonAshara.com

2 replies on “Minutes from the Ashara Medical Team Meeting in Houston, 9/26/15”

  1. I would like to respectfully offer some suggestions :

    1. Medications : As we know medicines in US are very expensive. For mumineen in your jamaat who have financial difficulty paying for the meds, or if they need to keep some meds for when needed, one option is for them to get them from India (not controlled substances / meds). Typically the cost is 10% of the cost here or less on the vast majority of meds. I would estimate that 40% of generic meds sold in US are made in India. They could arrange for them to be brought by mumineen coming from India for Ashara. Should be obtained from a reputable company and a good pharmacy : usually pharmacies owned by a mumin or someone you know or near a hospital would be more reliable. In our jamaat for the last few years we have been getting meds from India for use of mumineen.
    The brand names in India are different (sometimes they are the same as here). There are good websites where we can look up the brand name by putting in the generic name, the price, the company making it, etc. http://www.medindia.net/drug-price/index.asp OR http://www.drugsupdate.com/brand/listing OR http://www.medclik.com/MedCLIKEncr/Default.aspx . Some good companies are : Ranbaxy, Cipla, Wockhardt, Dr. Reddy, Glenmark, Pfizer, Merck, Novartis, GSK, Lupin, Cadila, Torrent, Sun. It is not illegal to get meds for ‘personal’ (as opposed to commercial) use (of course don’t get narcotics, benzos, etc!). For added protection one can have a prescription listing the meds.
    (These are my opinions only and not of SBMAA)

    2. We can bring some supplies that may be needed in the medical camp in Houston (in co-ordination with the Houston medical camp organizers and SBMAA): for example AED, BP monitor, otoscope, asthma inhalers, nebulizer, etc. We can place the supplies in more than one location

    3. Please encourage mumineen in your jamaat to get the flu shot before Ashara. In India / Pakistan the flu is perennial (not seasonal) and last year the flu activity there was more severe.

    Sorry for the long post!

  2. I am in agreement with Dr Attar.
    Having worked at medical camps during AShara in India I can tell that, having easy access to medications would be a great help. In addition people coming from outside of the US may or maynot have medical insurance. Typically at medical camps in India, we have a small pharmacy within the camp that provides common medications. Medical facilities there, are free of cost during Ashara this works out really well in India. Which may not be entirely possible here, but some access to common medications would definitely help.

    Shukran
    Batul Suterwala

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