By Syma Sayyah, Tehran
Tehran is truly a very big city and
although I have spent most of my life here, I keep discovering corners that I
never knew existed before.
Recently, through an organization that I work for, I went to meet Mrs.
Fatemeh Fazelzadeh who is in charge of the 14 Masoum (innocents) Clinic in the
east of Tehran,
at the far end of the Hemmat expressway, Serraj Ave. I was given the right directions and luck
was on my side as well and so I found it easily. As I got there early, I had a chance to
look around. The clinic was on the
first floor and I waited at the reception with other patients for my turn to
inform them that I was there to meet Mrs F.
Mrs. F's father had given this land
(1500 sq meters, the rest is unused) 20 years ago in his will in order to build
a hospital for the poor. It took
another 12 years before this clinic came about due to shortage of funds. The clinic covers about 300 sq meters and
was built in 1998 above several shops which are leased out, and in accordance
with his will, the income from these goes towards the running of the mosque next
door. In his will he had nominated
Mrs. F to be in charge of this project. I know this because I saw the
vaghnameh - the will document. Mrs. F is a small lady but most
determined and strong, she reminded me of many I know. She uses a crutch but I did not ask why.
She had spent a few years at Leeds
in UK to learn English; she had been
married and has a son who is at university now.
The clinic manager is a young lady
who is Mrs F's niece, Miss Khani, who seemed to have a great spirit of service,
patience and kindness along with efficiency – I noted this while I was waiting
at the reception before I introduced myself.
They charge patients 2000 rials
(US$0.25) per visit if they have insurance documents, 7000 rials (US$ 0.75) if
not, and only 500 rials (US$ 0.05) for injections. At times they supply some of the
medication and equipment the patients want and make a very small profit from
that. They receive donations if
someone makes a nazr (when people make a wish and if it comes true then
they do what they said they do, usually a good deed).
Due to the low incomes of people in
that part of town their efforts for fund raising have not been very successful
and the clinic managed only to raise the equivalent of about US$ 65 for
equipment they wanted.
The clinic has 13 rooms in total,
including one office, one medicine room, two rooms with beds for patients to
recover or receive treatment and one very busy room where patients have their
injections. There are two rooms
with some dental equipment which is not used as it should be due to shortage of
funds and personnel. There is one
room where the resident doctor visits the patients. One big room is used for women only and
run by a midwife who told me she sees many patients everyday. There women
receive many services: including
monthly pregnancy check ups and postnatal follow up, as well as tests and necessary help for
STD (sexually transmitted diseases). There is a separate room for mother and
child health and one where small operations are performed. There is, of course a kitchen and also a
prayer room. The whole place was
very modestly furnished yet it was clean and people waited quietly for their
turn to be seen by the doctor or nurse.
There is one doctor per shift and
there are 2 shifts, one from 8.30 – 14.45 and the other from 14.45 -21.00. Doctors receive a basic salary plus a
percentage of the small income the clinic takes. There are normally 2 nurses per shift
especially in the afternoon which is busier. A total of seven doctors come to
help during the week but many leave and new ones need to be recruited as the
income they receive is so low. I
was informed that in winter they have about 100-120 patients daily and in summer
there are about 80, plus a large number of people who come just for injections.
I found the staff efficient and doing their tasks seriously. Most of the patients that I saw were
women.
Their short term wishes are:
- Set up a night clinic by expanding
the ground floor and using some of the land. They have to close the upstairs
for security reasons at night – this simple night clinic would be equipped
with a couple of beds, desks and emergency equipment and
medicines.
- Set up their dentistry clinic and
hire the necessary staff to run and operate it.
- Purchase an audio scope – for
checking hearing.
- Purchase several blood pressure
devices.
- Purchase a sonography machine for
the women's clinic.
Medium term
wishes
- Get an x-ray
machine.
- Set up a
laboratory.
Long term wish
- Turn the clinic into a
hospital.
My conclusion is that their long
term goal may not easily be achieved but if people will help, both their short
term and medium terms goals are possible but they need people with a good will
and helping hand. Can you help
them?
This is their postal
address
Ressallat
Square
East Farjam
Ave.,
Serraj
Street
Above Vafadarr
Highway
Golha
Street (corner of Soroush
Street)
14 Masoum
Clinic
Tel. +98 (0)21 77448181
Fax. +98 (0)21 77202868
Bank address
Darmangahe Khayrieh 14
Masoum
Sepah Bank Serraj Branch - Code
No. 1685
Account No.
666/83
Bank telephone: +98 (0)21 77371243 and +98 (0)21
77381849
