KARACHI:Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) student’s volunteer program batch 54 winter session’s certificate awarding ceremony was held at SIUT, concluding a week-long exercise of community services undertaken by the young generation of Pakistan.
This voluntary service week-long program for school and college children, initiated by SIUT since 2006, is conducted by SIUT at its premises during the summer and winter vacations with students to perform civic duties and community services for the society at large.
The program has received an overwhelming response and is specially structured and formulated to motivate the students to experience life beyond their own and enhance their community service values. To date, more than 6550 students have successfully completed the training program.
Initially, Prof Anwar Naqvi talked about the philosophy of SIUT’s services and history. He said that the training spanned for 30 hours during which the participants interactively engaged themselves with the admitted patients as well as the outpatients especially the children patients.
During the training, the students were rotated through various departments including OPDs, Dialysis, Transplantation, Lithotripsy, Radiology, Clinical Laboratory, Cancer, Hepato-gastroenterology and Medical and Surgical sciences. An interactive and educative session of First Aid and Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was imparted by the representative of Pakistan Red Crescent Society.
Director SIUT Prof Adib Rizvi said that this program not only provides a window for the future generation to get a firsthand experience of the miseries and sufferings faced by our underprivileged population but also inculcates in them the motivation and inspiration to do something about this and how to tackle these issues which are confronted by society ranging from poverty, lack of education and poor healthcare.
He stressed that the basic principle of every community service is based on empathy, compassion and commitment.
The certificate awarding ceremony included junior and senior volunteer speeches, parents sharing their views, SIUT patient’s performances, narration of their life stories by SIUT’s transplant and dialysis patients and distribution of certificates and gifts.
The students in their speeches expressing their thoughts said the program has been a life-changing experience. The participants also applauded Ms Zainab Imran (SIUT Volunteer) when she sang the SIUT song.
Some motivational speakers also took part in the program including international certified trainer Mr Danny Khursigara, Saira Javed SIUT’s transplant patient and Atif Iqbal from SEEKHO on traffic laws and road safety.
The concluding ceremony was largely attended by the parents, teachers, senior volunteers who have spent over 5,000 (five thousand) hours during the program and staff members of SIUT including medical professionals.