The Aga Khan University hosted a golf tournament on March 20 at the Karachi Golf Club to raise awareness of paediatric congenital heart disease (CHD).
The tournament raised over Rs 25 million to support families in Pakistan without the financial means to afford the cost of outstanding surgical and medical care.
“This is a part of the Aga Khan University Hospital’s larger Patient Welfare Programme that has assisted over 1.58 million patients with Rs 6.68 billion since its inception in 1986. Sevent
y per cent of CHD patients at AKUH – some as little as 2.4 kgs – are supported by the programme,” said Zahir Janmohamed, Director General, Resource Development, AKU.
Each year, some 50,000 infants in Pakistan are born with CHD. If the disease remains undetected, most children do not survive beyond the first few years of their life.
“At AKUH, however, CHD patients can find hope. Each year, the paediatric cardiac services team performs more than 250 paediatric cardiac surgeries,” said Dr Baba
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r Hasan, Associate Professor, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health. “It is the only programme in Pakistan to be both accredited by Joint Commission International [JCI] and recognised by the International Quality Improvement Collaborative [IQIC].”
Dr Farhat Abbas, Dean, Medical College, welcomed the guests to the tournament. “We are grateful for the support of our partners who are helping us to expand our paediatric cardiac services with an additional 100 CHD corrective surgeries in 2016”.
Several socially responsible corporations and individuals came forward to support this cause. A total of 25 teams played the tournament in a Texas Scramble offering a combination of strategy, skill and camaraderie.
“This was one of the most well-organised golf competitions in my 76 years with this game. I hope the interest shown will result in increased funding of this noble work,” said one of the players, Professor Bo Badr Saleem Lindblad, Professor Emeritus of International Child Health, Global Health Unit, Department of Public Health, Karolinska Institutet and Professor Emeritus of Paediatrics, Aga Khan University."
