A request for help and introduction

[rakshak]

Asa lam alaykum

I represent a small group of NRIS from Australia (Non Residential Indians) who have pooled our funds to establish a small hospital somewhere in the more peaceful areas of Afghanistan. I realise an online forum is not the best place to do this kind of research but I am hoping it's a good start. If any wise members would be willing to direct me to any government department who could help, that would be incredible.

I have a few questions regardless:

Are there any permits or government organisations who will be difficult (requiring baksheesh)?

Is sourcing of labourers difficult? We want to employ as many locals as possible. Are they trained? What about good engineers?

Will it be possible to hire local doctors and staff?

Will it be possible to ensure safety?

Most of us are Muslim, however none of us are Pashtun. Will there be a problem?

What about power/water/medical supplies? Will we have to import?

What are possible locations for the site?

I have a document of questions, which I cannot locate at this time. I will have more in a few days.

This is a long term goal for us, 3-5 years and we're beginning just now.

Thank you all

[Palwasha]

Wa'alaykum asalaam.

I think some of the members who have more of a background with Afghanistan, either living of having lived there, will be able to help you, InshAllah.

May Allah reward and help your efforts, and may He bless you and your friends.

[rakshak]

Thank you to "guley" and "shlombay"

"Wa'alaykum asalaam.

I think some of the members who have more of a background with Afghanistan, either living of having lived there, will be able to help you, InshAllah.

May Allah reward and help your efforts, and may He bless you and your friends."

Thank you guley ji

"Yes there is visit the site below.

Ministry of Public Health Afghanistan - MoPH"

Ah yes, I visited that website before, I have emailed from the feedback form.

"If you are a doctor and not a spy for RAW or ISI you will be safe. The Taliban knows everybody in and out. If your not visiting to cause any harm they will all love you and you will get to experience Afghan hospitality(which means they will be very kind to you)"

What is RAW and ISI? None of us are spies, I am a retired doctor, all of the committee are either doctors, businessmen and engineers. The wives are teachers, engineers and one doctor.

Yes the famed Afghan hospitality , my families ex-neigbhours were Afghan, theirs was the first house we went to for Eid!

Yes, If not you will get sick immediately. Pakistan and Afghanistans water is not good for foreigners. Medical supplies you might be able to find. but power depends on the province.

Yes we have been thinking generators would be the best idea. Atleast if only for backup.

Drinking water filters are also good purchase, we have factored this and fuel costs for generators into everyday running costs.

"Kandahar and Kabul the two largest cities of Afghanistan and important trade centers of Afghanistan. They are the only provinces of which its population exceeds 1million +"

Kabul is our first choice. There used to be an Indian hospital there also we're lead to believe it is fairly stable and safe.

Thank you,

Waseem Khan.

[rakshak]

"ISI and RAW are Pakistani and Indian intelligence agencies.

If your going to Kabul you should not be worried at all."

Oh, we're not spies

"But people in remote areas are in need of health care more than kabul.

Kandahar would be better or logar , I guess."

That is what we were thinking too. There needs to be a balance between staff safety and usefulness. Thinking about it coldly and without emotion, if us doctors get killed, nobody will be treated at all. At least in big cities, we can treat more people for a longer time.

"You should contact local hospitals of Kandahar such as chinese hospital."

I didn't know there was such a hospital, will look into it.

Any more questions brother?

Not as of yet. We're still estimating costs.

At the moment it looks like we will be able to maintain a 10-15 bed clinic at best

[spogmai shaglay]

RAKSHAK... Welcome to our pashtun Family....

its great to hear people talking about doing something in practice aout of t he virtual world.... May Allah talla bless and help u and may u be successful in ur good deeds that u wish to do....

and u are at the right place... not one or two....everyone is here to help you...

and i am a pukhtana... a resident and citizen of India..

[شمله ور خراساني]

How come Indians are not helping the poor in India?

[eusuphxai]

How come Indians are not helping the poor in India?

If i become you( sangar ) for a minute then my reply will be:
Because he is muslim and in india majority is hindu which make it napak so not worth helping.

But as i am not you , so he is helping because you only talk while ppl die so he is doing it for you so you might learn a thing or two

[Badlun]

You will not be the only one doing this kind of great job. Please share with the forum members all the relevant details. For example

How much financial resources are at your disposal

How much human resources you have

Do you think your project is sustainable or it will die once you leave Afghanistan. For sustainibility you need to contact another NGO or donor agency who have permanent stake or interest in Afghanistan.

Do you have funds for contracting translators of Pashto and Dari.
As one member said you may go to rural areas which are more in need of health services, are you ready for that.

Is there any accountability system in your project. I mean will some superior agency will monitor your income and expenditure or you will spend as you wish.

Why you dont train some local doctors and nurses who will continue helping Afghans even after you leave Afghanistan

[rakshak]

Firstly thank you to all who wished us well

To Mr Osho

I did not wish to divulge financial resources, but it seems that many people here know the ground reality in Afghanistan and may be able to instruct us as to the extents this will be able to cover costs.

At our disposal is $3.5M AUD minimum to an undefined maximum (I know this is ambiguous but we're working on some sponsorships which are not completely confirmed yet) An unconfirmed deal is from the Australian company BHP Billiton, the worlds biggest mining company, I believe they have interests in Afghanistan. For them a few million dollars is pocket change

At the moment we have a group of 80 people, mostly doctors but also local businessmen as well as engineers and teachers. A few have volunteered for Medicins sans frontiers.

The idea is to set up the clinic with our resources. Then hand it over to the local Government after it has become self sufficient from international donations as well as any revenue we make. Our plan is to BUY LOCAL and HIRE LOCAL. All materials should be local or at least imported from no further than India, even a small venture like this can help local tradesmen.

We plan to hire locals in junior positions, all of us are with family and the intention is for the younger men and women to work in 3-6 month shifts, after which the trained locals will take over with only one of the original committee remaining and cycling in and out. (This is assuming a deficit of fully trained practitioners in Afghanistan) It is impossible for us to train a full medical professional.

This clinic will only take care of wounds, injuries, vaccines and easily treatable illnesses, we won't be doing any heart transplants and chemotherapy as we simply do not have the resources.

We have a Pashto speaker (father of friend of one of the committee members children) who goes back to Afghanistan for 2 months every year and will translate initially, but yes we believe locals will have to be hired.

The committee (Garibom ko Rakshak (GR Australia)) will account for all spending.

To Mr Sangar,

You must realise sir that the problem of India's poor is vastly different. They are not suffering from shrapnel wounds and landmine injuries. The ones in India are suffering from malnutrition, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), lung cancer among others, we cannot effectively treat them with the resources at our disposal. Also all Indians can go to a government hospital in India for completely free, in Afghanistan that is not possible due to a lack of hospitals to care for everyone.

We are inspired by nothing else.

[Badlun]

Rakshak

So nice of you for the details. It seems that you have some thing real and serious in mind.

You must finalize all your financial negociations before you launch your project. Money makes the mare go and many projects fail because of insufficient financial as well as human resources. Once you have all the funds at your complete disposal then you commence the venture otherwise if you start some thing and later on due to some complications you dont receive the full funds then you leave things half done and thats a real waste of money, time and energies.

I wish you share with us your project proposal in a technical and systematic way. I mean you may write the Mission statement, the plan, the strategy, the cost benifit ratio, the SWOT analysis,the possible dates you take start etc and then we can have some more discussions.

I also suggest that you may establish one big hospital instead of opening several small clinics. One central hospital may attract many patients from many areas.

[IamDZJ]

what does your name mean?

[KhalsaWarrior]

what does your name mean?

Protector/Guardian.

[Dawezai]

Dear Rakshak,

Thanks for your concern and generosity. I believe Jalalabad would the best location for your charity work. I have spoken to a number of guys and have actually convinced one, who is currently working for a health centre in Kabul, to help you out with all the arrangements you will need to do in Jalalabad. I also have a number of doctor friends whom I should be able to convince to work for you. If you are interested, please send me a private message and we will discuss it further.

Thanks.

[rakshak]

Hello everybody sorry for the late reply, I've been very busy with family matters.

Mr Dawezai,

I will email you if you give me your email address, I am not sure how to message on the internet, my son has been showing me how to use all the features

Mr osho,

I wish to keep the real details of the project under wraps as much as possible. Many things may not materialise and I don't wish to raise peoples hopes. Believe it or not, we haven't even made a business plan, let alone a SWOT analysis. What is a cost-benefit ratio? A cost-benefit analysis/viability analysis is really not required for a non-profit venture. As obviously, for a commercial venture this is completely inviable.

Initially we had planned a big 100+ bed hospital, but I doubt our funds will cover such a venture. Everyone please understand, this won't materialise this year, probably not next either, at best we can start building in late 2011/ early 2012. I know Afghanistan is a suffering land and I don't like making excuses but there is so much to do and even funding can still become an issue halfway through, as you've warned.

I may have some good news soon however.

[rakshak]

On that note,

I notice that Afghanistan has a per capita income of $531. We will contact local authorities to find out the labour costs for manual workers and other such labourers but any estimates here in AUD would great.