Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Pfizer Pakistan today announced that it will be sponsoring four lung health screening clinics, to support the expansion of Indus Hospital & Health Network’s (IHHN) existing Obstructive Lung Diseases (OLD) program. Under its commitment, Pfizer will be funding the functioning of four IHHN lung health screening clinics in Badin and Tharparkar in Sindh and Rahim Yar Khan (Bhong) and Lahore in Punjab.
IHHN’s OLD program is intended to work towards a sole purpose of actively screening all patients for OLD, ensuring early and accurate diagnosis.
“Our aim is to support IHHN’s efforts to identify early signs of obstructive lung disease, which is a respiratory disease characterized by airway obstruction. The funds provided by us will be utilized towards purchase and maintenance of critical equipment and supporting salaries of technicians,” said Syed Muhammad Wajeehuddin, Country Manager Pfizer Pakistan. “This is a collaboration between two reputable organizations that have always kept the interest of their patients and quality paramount. We have complete confidence that these clinics will be instrumental in ensuring a healthy and happy Pakistan. Partnerships like these support our purpose: Breakthroughs that Change Patients’ Lives.”
“One of the biggest challenges in addressing chronic lung disease, such as asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, in Pakistan is accurate diagnosis,” said Dr. Saima Saeed, Director, Lung Health Program, IHHN. “We are grateful to Pfizer for their donation, which allows access to spirometry within primary care; this is rare in Pakistan. It will reduce the burden of this much neglected non-communicable disease by enabling life-saving interventions to be made sooner and so make a huge impact.”