Aga Khan University Alumni Association of North America

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Inauguration of a new patient care building at AKU – the Jenabai Hussainali Shariff Building

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The Aga Khan University inaugurated the Jenabai Hussainali Shariff Building on its sprawling 84-acre Stadium Road campus in the hub of Karachi today.

Located right next to the main Hospital entrance to the campus, the five-floor, approximately 132,000-square-foot JHS Building – part of an ambitious expansion plan that envisages a series of ambulatory care buildings along the southern end of the campus – will allow the University Hospital to significantly expand the health care services it offers. The building will house outpatient clinics providing medical, same-day surgery and chemotherapy services.

The building was constructed over a two-year period starting October 2010 with generous donations cumulating to US$ 14.5 million from individuals and donor groups in Karachi and abroad, and from the hospital’s own contribution.

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Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Physicians come out on top

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Immigration Reform

By Naveen Bhora, Esq.

This week the U.S. Senate, led by the so-called “gang of eight,” released the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act”that has won the cautious approval of the White House and of advocates seeking an overhaul of the broken immigration system and, principally, a roadmap to citizenship for the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.The bill also incorporates many provisions advocated by the International Medical Graduate Taskforce to protect physicians who practice in medically underserved communities and physicians engaging in graduate medical education.The provisions include:

  1. Greater contractual protections for physicians participating in the J-1 waiver program, such as a limit to number of on-call hours per week and malpractice insurance coverage.
  2. J-1 waivered physicians practicing in an underserved area whose employment terminates have a 120-day grace period to file a petition to commence employment at a new health care facility located in a medically underserved area.
  3. The number of Conrad Waiver slots allocated per state increases from 30 to 35 and can be further increased by 5 waivers slots per year based on usage.
  4. Physicians coming to the U.S. for graduate medical education or to take USMLEs can express dual intent (i.e. the intent to immigrate to the U.S.) and no longer need to profess to ties to home country.
  5. Physicians completing graduate medical education will automatically receive extension of status and employment authorization until October 1st when a request for continuation of nonimmigrant status has been submitted (such as an H-1B petition).
  6. J-2 spouses and children will no longer be subject to the two-year home residence requirement.

It is too early to celebrate. This bill still has a long road to travel before becoming law — it needs to clear the Senate Judiciary Committee, pass a full vote (60) in the Senate and be reconciled with a corresponding bill from the House of Representatives, which has yet to be introduced. Accordingly, we encourage all physicians to contact senators and house representatives to support these provisions.

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Message from APPNA SWDR

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APPNA SWDR

Dr. Manzoor Tariq, APPNA President, 2011 and Social Welfare and Dr. Nadeem Ahmed, APPNA Disaster Relief Committee, 2011 member

 

  • Please Support APPNA Social Welfare Disaster Relief Committee 2013 Projects
  • Please donate for Trauma Care Improvement Initiative

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

In the past, the Social Welfare Disaster Relief Committee has focused on relief efforts especially in Pakistan, but this year we have planned to expand our horizon and have decided to focus on health care issues and are getting involved in:

  1. Education/Training/Certification of Emergency/Trauma Care
  2. Health care initiatives with long term health benefits by improving awareness and education on Heart Diseases, Mental Health, Hepatitis C, Diabetes/Obesity.

SWDR needs your help and support for these initiatives. Please donate generously for these initiatives and make a real change in health care in Pakistan.

APPNA Trauma Care Initiative

Goal: Need your help and support to raise $100,000 to train and certify 10,000 first responders and emergency department physicians/nurses (BCLS/PTC/ATLS) to improve Trauma care in Pakistan

In Pakistan, > 2 million accidents are recorded each year leading to >50,000 deaths and > 500,000 injuries from trauma. There is also alarming increase in morbidity and mortality from non-accidental trauma and violence. Unfortunately pre-hospital trauma care providers including first responders lack any training. Situation in emergency departments is no different. Majority of health care providers lack ATLS, PTC, BCLS or ACLS certification.

Goals of the Project: Cost effective basic training (BCLA/PCT) to first responders (ambulance teams, police, volunteers, taxi drivers, teachers, paramedics etc.) to provide the initial help on the scene by individuals trained in basic principles of safe rescue, first aid and transportation. Training and certification of doctors and nurses (ATLS/PTC) working in emergency departments with recertification every 3 years. Establishment of Trauma care protocols and development of Trauma Registry to create reliable data for outcome analysis and to implement improvements in the system.

How to achieve these Goals: Will collaborate with Society of Emergency Medicine in Pakistan to provide training and education and will collaborate with NGO (including Aman and Emed) to provide personals and will collaborate with hospitals and alumni to provide local resources and equal partnership. APPNA SWDR will raise funds and will also apply for grants to help in resources.

We will train and certify >10000 individuals/year: Training will include BCLS or PTC certification for first responders and PTC/ATLS certification for health care professionals (physicians, student, trainees and nurses). Will start with hospitals in major cities including Peshawar, Lahore, Faisalabad, and Karachi but will expend initiative to throughout the country with the help of NGO, medical societies and alumni. We have negotiated cost of each trainee (BCLS/PTC) to be $10/person (2 day course requirements including stay, meal, syllabus etc.) thus cost of training/certifying 1000 individuals/center will be $10000/center/year (Rs.100,0000/year/center). We plan to raise $100,000/year and to continue this project for 3-5 years.

1. To learn more about Trauma Initiative, please visit our Trauma Care Initiative web page.

2. To learn more about APPNA SWDR projects, please visit our APPNA Projects web page and the APPNA SWDR website.

3. To donate for APPNA SWDR projects, please visit our Public Donations web page.

APPNA SWDRC

Social Welfare Disaster Relief Committee 2013

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AKUAANA President’s Message to Alumni, April 2013

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Dear Friends,

I hope everyone is well and enjoying spring.

I wanted to update everyone about a few issues. As you know, preparation for the Summer Alumni reunion during the APPNA meeting is well under way. We will be celebrating milestones for the Classes of ’88, ’93, and ’03. I am hoping that everyone will make an effort to attend, especially our Alumni in Florida.

To this end, I would encourage all planning to attend to purchase tickets for the AKU Alumni dinner to be held on July 5. There has been a change in APPNA policy and unlike previous years, we will be unable to purchase tickets on-site. Please buy your tickets from the APPNA website if you are an APPNA member. If not, please purchase them from the AKUAANA website.

This December will also mark the end of the 2-year terms of the current AKUAANA office bearers. We have put in a call for nominations and look forward to an election at the Reunion. We have received several nominations and will post the details up on the website after the deadline of April 20. All dues paying members and Reunion attendees will be eligible to vote. We will arrange voting for Members who are unable to attend the Reunion, hopefully before July. We will inform you of the details as we work through them.

We continue to work to improve the website. However, your participation is absolutely essential to provide interesting content. Let your creativity loose and share your thoughts and ideas!

In related news, the Steering committee for the Pakistan and Middle-East chapter of AKU alumni is gearing up for its first election. Once this chapter is functional, it will comprise the largest group of AKU alumni and, I hope will facilitate our interaction with the University and Pakistan. We look forward to a productive relationship with them.

I will end with a final request. Please check the status of your dues. If they have lapsed, please renew so that you can take part in the election and help keep AKUAANA afloat!

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Sadaf Khan, ‘92

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Public Holidays in Pakistan for 2013

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Public Holidays

A list of public holidays scheduled for the year 2013 is given below for your information and ready reference. However, exact dates for holidays subject to the appearance of the moon will be confirmed in line with the Government of Pakistan’s notification released on these occasions.

OccasionDateDay
Eid Milad-un-Nabi*
(12th Rabi-ul-Awal)		January 25, 2013Friday
Kashmir DayFebruary 05, 2013Tuesday
Pakistan DayMarch 23, 2013Saturday
Labour DayMay 01, 2013Wednesday
Eid-ul-Fitr*
(1st Shawal)		August 09, 10 and 11, 2013Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Independence DayAugust 14, 2013Wednesday
Eid-ul-Azha*
(10th Zil Haj)		October 15 and 16, 2013Tuesday and Wednesday
Iqbal DayNovember 09, 2013Saturday
Ashura*
(9th and 10th Muharram)		November 13 and 14, 2013Wednesday and Thursday
Birthday of Quaid-e-Azam
/ Christmas		December 25, 2013Wednesday
Day after ChristmasDecember 26, 2013
(For Christians only)		Thursday

* Subject to the appearance of the moon

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Ladies: Looking for an internist position?

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Internist

Needed Female Internist, Board Certified.

Wellstar Towne Lake Medical Center 145 North Medical Parkway Woodstock, GA 30189

The physician will join Wellstar Medical Group. Suburb of Atlanta, GA. Income guarantee for 2 years. After 2 years it is production based (similar to private practice). Great benefits, 401K, pension plan etc. Busy practice with great payor mix, practice is well respected in the area. All physicians in the practice have been affiliated for more than 10 years. Paperless charting with top national EMR system.

Interested physicians may contact:
Asher Niazi
MD Medical Director / Lead Physician
Wellstar Towne Lake Medical Center
145 N. Medical Parkway Woodstock, GA 30189
Cell: 770-709-8468
Email: asher.niazi@wellstar.org (work)

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Contribute to AKU-NAMA

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Contributions for the next issue of the AKU-NAMA to be published in April/May, 2013 are now being accepted. AKU-NAMA continues to reflect the breadth and depth of alumni experiences and successes and highlight unique attributes and achievements throughout the World. So reach for your favourite pen or the nearest keyboard and let’s get started!

Materials worth contributing are as diverse as AKU’s amazing alumni body! From exciting career options to achievements in research; from initiatives in public service to unusual interests. Letters to the Editor, travelogues, book reviews, opinion pieces in modern technology and trends in education are always welcome!

Article length should be approximately 500-600 words. Photographs are welcome but they must be high resolution digital photographs (JPEG files over 1 MB). You can submit articles at the Article Submission Form on the AKU website.

Last day for submissions for the next issue is January 21, 2013.

Please note that the next and subsequent issues of the AKU-NAMA will primarily be circulated in electronic format. If you would like to receive a paper copy, kindly indicate so on the Update Your Information Form on the AKU website or email at alumni@aku.edu.

AKU-NAMA

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