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From Managing Director's
Desk |
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It
was May, 2004, when I was able to pursue Dr.
Khan, Mrs. Sitara Khan and their daughter Selina
Khan to be a guest of honor in ORCA-USA's reunion
held at San Francisco Bay Area, California.
ORCA-USA is the US-based chapter of ORCA, Old
Rajshahi Cadets' Association. Dr. Khan belonged
to the class of a very generous philanthropist
in the Bay Area. US chapter of ORCA was founded
not only to nurture the fellowship among the
Rajshahi Cadets' Alumni but to extend its role
as a charitable organization.Dr. Khan was approached
to establish and fund a kidney center project
in Bangladesh through ORCA. |
There was a discussion among our group
to contribute in the health sector in
Bangladesh, especially in the filed
of renal disease. Dr. Khan, being a
Bangladeshi American responded very
positively to our appeal. Both Dr. Khan
and Mrs. Sitara Khan ended their talk
with a note that he would evaluate our
proposal and if liked would support
the project. A lot of efforts and selfless
dedication from many ORCA, non-ORCA
members in the USA and Bangladesh helped
us in the formalization of a proposal.
The project was approved by the Khan
Family Foundation in Dec. 2004.
In the original proposal the goal was
to setup only 1 dialysis center in Rajshahi,
the divisional headquarter of northern
Bangladesh. There was no dialysis facility
in Rajshahi until 2005, not even at
Rajshahi Medical College. People with
renal failure had to travel to Dhaka,
the capital city, and go through inexplicable
financial burden, mental agony and uncomforting
situation. Rajshahi is also the town
where our Alma mater, Rajshahi cadet
College, is located. Strategically suitable
Rajshahi was a natural choice for all
of US. Later, in a very encouraging
development, ORCA-USA received a number
of dialysis machines as donation from
Independent Dialysis Foundation (IDF),
Maryland. This donation was the basis
for the revised program. The program
was revised to implement more than one
dialysis facilities in a number of district
headquarters in Bangladesh. Most of
the renowned doctors and leading medical
facilities in Bangladesh are Dhaka based.
So it was later decided to build a Dhaka-based
facility that can be used to train doctors,
technician of peripheral facilities
and also treat critical patients.
Implementation of the first phase of
the project has been delayed by many
unfavorable events, especially by the
bureaucratic system of Bangladesh. Our
team confronted many unfriendly issues
in releasing the donated machines from
the Ministry of Health, DG Health, Ministry
of Commerce, NBR and Bangladesh Customs.
However, no good intentions remains
punished for long time. After many odds
we are happy to announce the inauguration
of the first "Imdad-Sitara Khan
Kidney Center" in Bangladesh. I
would like to thank the former commerce
minister Maj. Hafiz (Retd.),Bir Bikram,
Md. Abdul Karim, Chairman, NBR, Aminul
Islam Bhuiya, Secretary, Youth &
Sports for helping release the donated
machines. Also I would like to extend
appreciation to Mr. Md. Asheque Hossain,
member NBR for his assistance. My heartfelt
gratitude goes to all executive committee
members of Imdad-Sitara Khan Kidney
Centers (ISKKC), Bangladesh, especially,
Prof. Fazlul Qader, Air Commodre M.
Golam Tawhid (Retd.), Mr. Sufi Hyder
Zulfiqar Rahman, Dr. Mahmudur Rahman
Pial and Mr. Aminur Rahman, Commissioner
of Taxes, without whom this project
would have never been materialized.
Special thanks to Dr Abdul Hamid, president
of ORCA-USA and all executive committee
members of ORCA-USA for giving all organizational
support to receive US charity needed
for this initiative. Many thanks to
Mr. Shahab Ahmed, USA, who persuaded
IDF for the donation of the Fresinius
machines.
I personally think most of the odds
are behind us. We have built a very
good team comprising members from Bangladesh
and the USA. We remain committed to
providing a helping hand to the people
with limited fortune and means.
Abu Hena M. Kamal, PhD
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