Build a Rural
Health Clinic

Congratulations! It's 2 am and you're having a baby! The contractions are appropriately spaced, so now seems like a reasonable time to take mother and impending baby to the clinic where she can deliver.

Right, so what do you need? Clothes for the mother, the hand-made baby blanket from one of the new grandmothers, a handkerchief for father to wipe nervous sweat from his brow. Oh, and how about twelve men and a cot to carry your wife to the hospital in?

One of the little joys of giving birth in the mountains of Murree is the assembling of twelve of your closest friends to heft your wife onto their shoulders and carry her to the hospital. Working in three shifts of four, they will carry your wife down the mountain you live on, up the mountain where the hospital is, and across all the valleys, rope-bridges and hills in between.

For those blessed with homes near the Murree Sehat Markaz, the journey takes only half an hour or so. For those still waiting for such a Sehat Markaz to be established in their area, the journey takes seven or eight hours depending on the weather and time of day. During the time it takes to make it to the hospital you face grim possibilities; a static child on a cot, on a mountain, with no one trained to resuscitate him or her. Or, a dying mother, on a cot, on a mountain, with no one trained to save her life. What can you, the father, do? You can climb quickly, and pray desperately.

What about working with APPNA Sehat to establish more Sehat Markaz like the one they have in Murree? May be you can request them to name it after someone you love.

Date/Time Last Modified: 6/17/2002 3:48:57 PM

© 2004, Human Development Foundation. All rights reserved.
1350 Remington Road, Suite W, Schaumburg, Il. 60173
Toll Free: (800) 705-1310 | Email: info@yespakistan.com | Privacy Policy