Medicine & Endocrine Foundation
Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Karachi.

Appeal for Donations

APPNA’s Social Welfare and Disaster Relief Committee (SWDRC) has been charged with the task of identifying and supporting viable social-uplift projects in Pakistan. We invite you to join hands with us in supporting the Medicine and Endocrine Foundation (MEF) based at the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center (JPMC) in Karachi.

History of MEF:

This project was started by concerned citizens, as a partnership between the government and private philanthropists, in response to the paucity of effective Endocrine services available to Karachi’s indigent.  Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, (the teaching hospital affiliated with Sindh Medical College) was selected as the venue for this exclusively privately-funded foundation,  as it caters to the poorest segments of society who depend completely upon state institutions for their medical care.

JPMC Medical Unit II before reconstruction

The JPMC is the only federally administered hospital in Karachi that has provided free care to the needy. The three Medical Units of JPMC were originally housed in the barracks of the Royal Air Force Base hospital built in 1939. Over the years Medical Units 1 and 3 were demolished and replaced by new but inadequate structures, leaving Medical unit 2 housed in its original structure. 
Each Medical Unit houses approximately 50 in-patients in traditional Nightingale-style wards. Originally a total of six senior and junior doctors and a small number of nursing and ancillary staff would run these wards. The demands on these medical units had increased tremendously on account of Karachi’s
burgeoning population, with a commensurate increase in the proportion of indigent patients.

Moreover, to cater to the needs of large numbers of trainee doctors from all over Pakistan, a unit designed to train no more than three doctors at a time now trained about 60! Needless to say, there was no room for them to even stand, let alone be provided with the peaceful personal space so essential for learning.

When these wards came into being in pre-partition days, hospitals were at best mere nursing homes.

Patient in Unit II before reconstruction

With the advent of high-tech medical care, the requirements in terms of space, equipment and trained staff has changed drastically. The existing Unit II ward building was precarious and irreparable. There was also no possibility of creating additional space in the original building. Demand far out stripped the resources and hence the quality of services suffered immensely. There was no foreseeable help coming from the government to rectify this situation.
Work began in earnest in 1999 when under the enthusiastic leadership of Professor Tasnim Ahsan (MRCP, FRCP, Head Department of Medicine and Joint
Director of JPMC), a team of senior physicians and local philanthropists set about planning and raising the resources for this daunting project.

The barrack had to be demolished in stages and a new building had to be constructed in its place. In the first phase of construction a 50-bed facility for male and female patients was constructed. In addition a 3-bed fully equipped ICU was also established. The new ward was commissioned in 2001.

Patients in Unit II after reconstruction

In the second phase the rest of the ground floor was constructed which included the Specialty Clinics, Patient Waiting Hall, lecture room and faculty offices. This new block was commissioned in 2003.After the completion of the Specialty Clinics, three specialized clinics were commissioned to cater to Endocrinology, Diabetes and Rheumatology services.

These clinics are functioning effectively in delivering quality care in these specialized disciplines for over a hundred and twenty thousand patients per year along with providing quality supervised training opportunities for
trainee-physicians. Diabetic patients are also supplied all their medicines, including Insulin, for free through MEF.

In addition to providing high quality medical services, the MEF-supported
Medical Unit II is now the premier teaching unit at JPMC, and has already
produced numerous highly trained and motivated physicians that have gone on to continue the good work all over Pakistan. In recognition of the stellar work being done by the MEF, the Ministry of Health in Islamabad has expressed an interest in adopting the MEF model of public-private partnership as a blueprint for improving all government-run hospitals in Pakistan.

It is because of the successes already achieved by the MEF and the potential thus demonstrated for

Lecture room after reconstruction

uplift of hospitals all across Pakistan that the SWDRC has undertaken to support this project.

MEF’s next phase has to do with the construction of the first floor of the building with the purpose ofLecture room after reconstructionestablishing a Safety & Clinical Simulation Laboratory and a state-of-the-art e-library. The estimated construction costs for this 19,000 square-foot space is $200,000 and the cost for outfitting the lab is $45,000. These new facilities will serve as the backbone of training and research activities for all of the medical staff at JPMC and the faculty and medical students of Sindh Medical College.

Our Appeal:

Following on the heels of the highly successful fundraising for the Burn Center at Rawalpindi Medical College, the SWDRC would like to solicit donations for the MEF-JPMC project. APPNA has undertaken to raise funds for outfitting the skills
lab and e-library for which a sum of approximately $45,000 is required.

It is our fervent hope that you will support us in this noble cause which is
likely to benefit healthcare and medical education all over Pakistan.

Patients waiting area after reconstruction

Donations can be made safely and conveniently online through our secured connection. Use your credit card or debit card and follow the instructions.
Please select Welfare or Disaster relief under "Select Fund", you should also mention that the donation is for the "JPMC Project "under the comments section.

To make a donation online please click

Rather send a check?
Would you prefer to send the donation by check or money order? Then please make
checks payable to APPNA (SWDRC) in the memo write "JPMC Project " and send them
with your information to:
APPNA
6414 South Cass Avenue
Westmont, IL 60559

We encourage you to go through the following links to get a complete understanding of this project:

Pictures before Reconstruction
Pictures during and after construction of Phase I,II & III
Picture after construction of Phase IV & V

Medicine and Endocrine Foundation Overview

MEF Clinics - Overview
Annul Reports of MEF
Clinical Simulation and Patient Safety Laboratory

Patient Bathroom before reconstruction	Patient bathroom after reconstruction