PROJECT OF CLASS OF 83
Dow Medical College; Class of 83 Laboratory Project:

The Dow Medical College class of 1983 decided to commemorate their Twenty Fifth Graduation Anniversary by donating funds to Dow University of Medical Sciences as a token of our appreciation for the excellent and most economical medical education provided to us by our alma mater. The class members undertook the project of helping out in the construction of a new Laboratory at the Civil Hospital Karachi. After discussions with the Hospital Administration in terms of their needs; it was decided that the Class of 83 would construct a Clinical Laboratory Complex at Civil Hospital. This idea came to fruition at a large gathering of the class fellows at a gathering arranged by Dr. Saeed Quraishy in December 2005.

Under the able leadership of Mohammad Saeed Quraishy a team was set up to help achieve this goal. In Karachi the team members were Saeed Ismail, Amin Sulaiman, Nasir Sulaiman, Sohail Manzoor and Khalil Muqqadam. In the United Kingdom Fayyaz Hussain and Imran Bashir Chaudhry led the campaign for collecting donations. In the USA Nasar Qureshi and I were asked to lead the fund raising effort.

After a painstaking effort worldwide for almost two years our classmates opened their hearts and also their checkbooks to help achieve our long-standing goal.

The Laboratory was built in December 2008 at the cost of Rs 70 million. The class of 1983 graduates living in the USA contributed $120,000 (Rs. 9.6 million) and the classmates living in United Kingdom donated 10,000 pounds (Rs1.2 million). The classmates living in Pakistan contributed Rs3.6 million for a total of Rs.14.4 million. The Lab became operational in July of 2009 and is performing more than 2000 tests daily. These tests include but are not limited to CBC, Basic Chemistry, Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, CPK, CEA, Lipid profile, Hepatitis profile, LFTS, CA 125, ABGS, etc. If these tests were performed at a private laboratory the annual cost would be Rs. 312 Million.

The annual expenditure for running the Lab is Rs. 70 million. The government of Sindh provides Rs. 60 million for this purpose. Another magnanimous donor provides Rs. 6 million. There is a shortfall of Rs .4 million annually. To help reduce this deficit all Dowites are requested to make a voluntary contribution so the Lab may continue to provide excellent service to the deserving population.

There is a tremendous need for this facility at Civil Hospital. It is indeed commendable that CHK provides the care to deserving patients with limited resources. We the graduates of 1983 can play a small part in this endeavor.

Let us support “our” project. Having built it is not enough; it needs to be sustained.

You can now donate directly to the Laboratory Project by sending the funds to ENDOW and request that these funds are credited to the Dow Class of 83 project.

The instructions on the various methods of payment are noted on the ENDOW website.

ENDOW will send you a receipt and your donation is Tax deductible.

The donations may be made to Endow and ear marked for the Class of 83 project.

Please donate generously to keep this Laboratory viable.

Shahid Naqvi MD FACS

Donation Request: (PDF files pages: one and two)