For me, it was my childhood desire to become a doctor. Ever since I was a kid I always knew I would end up studying medicine. My parents knew too, and they always encouraged and supported me.”
“When I was probably around 5 or 6 years old. my best friend got into an accident. She was crossing the road with her mother and a bus hit them. They were both hospitalized and I went to the ICU to visit them. I remember the smell of the hospital. When I saw my friend, a little girl, only 6, with her whole face bandaged and so many tubes running here and there. I remember the look on her mother’s face as she lay in bed helplessly next to her daughter, watching her fight for her life. Watching her die. The bus hit her first before her mother and the force of the impact caused her to go into a coma. She died saving her mom. I will never forget the look on her mother’s face. No parent should ever have to bury their child. I think the desire to pursue medicine began from there… somehow.”
“Many years later, I found myself in Chittagong Medical College, Bangladesh. It was the 10th country I visited. I remember landing at the airport and looking at the bottle of water laughing to myself. Who would name a water company “Mum?”
Times were different back then. In 2010, there was no proper internet and we still needed to use sim card with “EDGE” to put into the USB dongle and plug into the laptop. Even the CNGs in Chittagong didn’t have doors and we used to pile 8 people into a single CNG when we went out.”
“For me Bangladesh was difficult, but not so much. I spent 8 years in an international boarding school in India so I more or less knew what to expect. I’d also been to countries like Indonesia and Cambodia before coming here. For some of my fellows who came with me, Bangladesh was their first country away from home. It was very difficult for them; the food, environment, culture, everything was totally different. Being away from family was probably the hardest.”
“After passing the First Professional Exam, I entered the “honeymoon year”. I was too free and bored. The winter of 2013 was very cold. In Malaysia, we don’t have winter in our country. So when winter comes, it’s so damn cold for us. This cold made me wonder about the street kids and their families. How would they deal with the cold? Somehow, I saw one sticker in my flat. It was a call for volunteers, to fight against winter, by some local charity. Dr. Siva and I did photography back then and we decided to volunteer our services.”
“We joined a group of youths who went into the slums, and it was there for the first time, that I saw the conditions of the poor. I was informed that the slum was not the worst of its kind and that there were many areas where the conditions were even more terrible than this one. One volunteer then said, “Hey, since you are medical students would you like to do some check-ups for these people?” This idea was the spark that set off everything.”
“Eight of us foreigners decided to join them as we hosted our first health check-up with their “organization”. They were giving out clothes to the poor and we were doing check-ups on the side. I told the organizers to bring 16 chairs and 8 tables, but they could only manage 8 tables and 8 chairs. How could we sit while the patients remained standing? We decided to let the patients sit whilst we stood. And just like that, we remained standing for 4 hours checking 200-300 patients whilst other “volunteers” seemed to be there just to take pictures.”
“We were so unprepared. We thought it would be like Malaysia - some old people would come to check their blood pressure and that would be all, but that was not the case. The people thought that we were doctors, with our white lab coat and stethoscopes. All the sick people came lining up. 80% of the patients we saw that day were sick. We felt helpless as all we could do was check their blood pressure and tell them to go to the hospital. It was a waste of time and effort.”
“After that experience I learnt few things. I learnt that there was no point in hosting a medical camp without medicine. For that we would need doctors to prescribe, but a prescription alone in the eyes of an illiterate person would have no value because they can’t afford the medicine anyways. I learnt that a medical project can never exist under any non-medical person, because they will not understand what a doctor is talking about. Only a doctor can understand another doctor. I also learnt that begging is a mere profession. The people who truly need help are not beggars. You will never see them suffering in the streets openly like a show for all to see. They will suffer at home, quietly, in silence, away from your eyes.”
“I then thought that maybe we could start a voluntary platform which would specifically host medical camps. This platform can be responsible for Doctors, Medical Students and Medicine stock. Our platform would then work with other organizations when they go out into the field to give clothes or food. In this way, when the poor people came to collect aid, they would also get a medical check-up and if they were sick, they could get some advice and some free medicine too. I was worried about the legal aspects of undertaking such a task. Would anyone stop me? Would I get into trouble for this?”
“I named the pilot project “The M Exchange”. The M stands for Medicine, with the slogan “Money to Medicine, Saving lives one at a time”. Another little secret - the M is actually the initial of my childhood friend who died back then.”
“I consulted with a few of my local batch mates including Dr. Mahid and Dr. Ishtiak and they encouraged me and told me to not worry. We began hosting medical camps, finding sponsors and volunteers. Our first medical camp under this platform, with a drug stock was hosted with the help of the Chittagong Medical College Students Union, CMCSU, and I was delighted and honored when I saw our honorable Principal, Dr. Selim Jahangir and Vice – Principal, Dr. Mujibul Hoque Sir even came to visit!”
“After that moment, I stopped doubting myself and the system. It was a green light all the way. We began to stock more medicine and host more camps. Presently, our drug stock consist of 10 cartons with 90 different types of drugs. We carry it to every medical camp that we host. So far this platform has hosted 13 medical camps and treated more than 3500 patients, with the majority of patients being the children and elderly. We try to do things like health workshops and community awareness with the help of students from Asian University for Women, as well.”
“We also handle referrals to other non-profits. I can give you an example of one patient who needed Alpha Interferon injection for few months, costing over one lakh taka. We contacted the Malaysian Ambassador for this and through the Embassy and BMCCI, the Pharmaceutical Company was reached and the medication was arranged to be delivered to his house via cold chain system, and administered to him weekly. He recovered well and we have around 7-8 similar referral cases with different charities.”
“Through this platform I was also able to raise funds for the construction of two buildings for “Charulata” which is a free school for underprivileged children located in the Tulatuli slums of Chittagong. Dr. Imdad and Dr. Ashim, my batch mates, are very much involved with this organization and it was with their help that I found one of the best organizations I have worked with in Bangladesh so far. They have about 120 students, young slum children, who would otherwise be running around doing nothing. There is a group of university students who are running this school 6 days a week on a totally voluntarily basis. Building a school is a small job; running the school every day is the challenging part.”
“My role in all this is just a small one. The real hard work is done by the volunteers who come forward to help. They are the true heroes. We have about 75 of them coming from 10 different countries. Without them, none of this would be possible. If you want to make a difference in your community, the change must start from you. If you volunteer, even if it for 1 or 2 days a year, it is still enough to make a difference. Albeit a small difference, but to someone the small difference may mean the whole world.”