Deseret Foundation to
Set up State-of-the-Art Eye Hospital in Pakistan
A Pakistan Link Report
 |
Dr.
William Jackson and wife |
Mr.
and Mrs. Gary Sabin |
Thanks to the concern and
enterprise of two Americans - Dr. William Jackson and Gary
Sabin – and their close association with an unassuming
but zestful Pakistani-American – Saghir Aslam - a
state-of-the-art eye hospital is being established in the
northern parts of Pakistan.
The plans for the clinic have been finalized and civil construction
is expected to start shortly at Chanan, which lies between
Lahore and Islamabad close to Kharian. The eye hospital
is scheduled to be operational sometime in the year 2008.
This was disclosed by Dr William Jackson and Mr. Gary Sabin
in separate interviews with Pakistan Link. Both recounted
their meetings with Mr. Saghir Aslam and spoke highly of
his earnest efforts to better the lot of the underprivileged
segments of Pakistan society. Both Jackson and Sabin have
been to the earthquake ravaged areas in Pakistan and have
met Aslam there to gain familiarity with the Saba Trust
he founded. Pakistan is in the cataract belt and Jackson
and Sabin rightly felt the pressing necessity of establishing
the hospital. Of course, they “tested the waters,”
as Dr Jackson put it, and as soon as “we developed
a common bond” with Aslam “we decided to launch
the project.”
The money for the hospital “is in the bank”
and a “perfect set-up” has been worked out with
Aslam and Dr Usman, a Pakistani doctor stationed in Chanan
who would supervise the hospital in Pakistan, Jackson explained.
Under the setup, funds for the hospital will be provided
by Jackson’s Mabuhay Deseret Foundation which has
established similar facilities in 17 countries of the world.
Aslam and his Saba Trust and Dr Usman will arrange the services
of local doctors. The arrangement has worked in several
countries and there are indications it would work admirably
in Pakistan too. Pakistani doctors have vividly demonstrated
their expertise in various areas and eye care is certainly
one of them.
 |
A
Pakistani patient receives treatment in the earthquake
ravaged area
|
The Mabuhay Deseret Foundation
has an interesting beginning. During 1986-1989, Dr. William
Jackson and his wife Audrey presided over a mission for
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Philippines.
They were shocked at the number of children suffering from
terrible disfiguring disabilities. On returning to the United
States, Dr. Jackson met others who had similar experiences
in Third World countries. The feeling was unanimous: the
program in the Philippines could be duplicated in other
countries. American doctors indicated a willingness to donate
their time to train local doctors in the skills that they
would need for the specialized care of these people. Over
the years, The Mabuhay Deseret Foundation expanded into
more than 20 countries and adopted the name of Deseret International
Foundation.
How the proposal for establishing the hospital in Pakistan
crystallized is another interesting story. Saghir Aslam
recounts: “I met Dr. Jackson through another friend
of ours, Tom Thorkelson. After I gave him a brief history
of the Saba Trust he donated 500 eye lenses. At that time
I was working with the Railway Hospital which basically
helps poor people. We requested Dr. Jackson to provide some
equipment which he readily did. He continued to provide
eye lenses. He also sent us more equipment with the result
that doctors from the Railway Hospital and Islamic Trust
were able to travel in an ambulance donated by Dr. Jackson's
church. The ambulance served as a mobile clinic for performing
operations in hospitals. As of today we have covered hundreds
of villages in different parts of NWFP, Azad Kashmir, Punjab,
and Sindh. With Allah's blessings we have performed over
260,000 eye surgeries and the people operated upon can see
without eye glasses.
“During my recent trip to Pakistan, Dr. Jackson met
me again with another Board member Gary Sabin who in many
ways is the Safi Qureshey of his community. Sabin supports
many of Dr. Jackson's programs. We spent some time together
in Pakistan. They both visited Saba Trust headquarter and
they also went and saw other Saba Trust activities. They
were extremely impressed.”
Sabin says he was glad to “have been introduced to
Saghir Aslam and the other doctors working in Pakistan.”
He was “pleased to be associated with people who want
to help others.” He made an illuminating comment that
could easily pass for an adage in today’s troubled
world: “It would be nice if the world could focus
on what we can do together to help one another as opposed
to disagreeing with one another …”
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