Seven years ago on an unusual evening in Washington DC, a family, their friends and a group of successful technology entrepreneurs, were sitting and discussing possibilities of changing the healthcare sector in Pakistan. The emphasis of the discussion was on using technology for the medical assistance of the poor and needy patients of Pakistan. This group aimed at providing solution to 3 major problems:

1) To provide free surgeries, medical procedures, and treatments to poor and needy patients across Pakistan.
2) To provide all the treatments in private hospitals or at least best class settings because human rights demand equality. 
3) To provide the donor complete transparency in terms of recording and sharing the track of their donations. 

The answer led to the birth of Transparent Hands- a technology platform that gradually became the largest online healthcare platform in Pakistan. Currently, it is registered as a 501©3 in the US, Gift Aid in the UK and 2(36) tax exempt in Pakistan. Over the last 6+ years, Transparent Hands has raised over 2 million dollars and provided treatments to 35,000+ poor and needy patients across Pakistan. Their efforts didn’t go unnoticed, and they became the winner of the P@SHA ICT AWARD consecutively from 2016-2018. They also won the International CSR Award 2020. In 2018. Last but not the least, the Government of Pakistan recognized the services of Transparent Hands and awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz to its CEO, Rameeza Mueen – what an amazing achievement for a young organization! 

This is just the beginning, because, Transparent Hands is growing 2-3 times every year and is aiming to reach $100M in annual donations in the next few years to provide millions of surgeries and treatments to the poor and needy patients across Pakistan. They are well positioned to achieve their target because of their sheer focus, discipline, awesome team, and a world class scalable technology platform. As this article is being written, Transparent Hands has proudly signed a partnership with Bait-ul-mal to provide 400+ cochlear implants every year with an approximate individual implant cost of PKR. 1.2M.

Transparent Hands’ Services and Impact

Medical and Surgical facilities
Transparent Hands has created a significant impact on the poor and needy patients of Pakistan via their largest online healthcare platform. Their services include a wide range of free pediatric and adult medical and surgical procedures and medical camps. They aim to provide top-quality healthcare facilities to the largely neglected segment of the Pakistani population. To date, Transparent Hands has successfully funded thousands of surgeries and medical procedures in collaboration with more than a dozen of its panel hospitals across Pakistan. The free medical procedures arranged by Transparent Hands include Angiography, Angioplasty, Biopsy, C-Section, Chemotherapy, Colonoscopy, CT Scan, Cystoscopy, Endoscopy, Hepatitis C Treatment, Lithotripsy, MRI, and Prosthetic placement. Transparent Hands is currently arranging free surgeries that include, pediatric and adult cardiac surgeries, cataract-removal surgery, cochlear implant surgery, ENT surgery, eye surgery, gynecological surgery, neurosurgery, obstetrical surgery, oncological surgery, orthopedic surgery, pediatric surgeries, plastic surgery, thoracic surgery, including various other general surgeries. 

Panel Hospitals and Medical Camps
Transparent Hands signs MoUs with hospitals across all the provinces of Pakistan. These hospitals are recognized as their panel hospitals where they refer their patients for treatment. Currently, they have around 44-panel hospitals. Transparent Hands states the purpose of these collaborations is to be a means of service to the poor and needy patients in their regional localities across the country. In association with these hospitals, Transparent Hands holds 6-10 medical and surgical camps every month across the rural areas of Pakistan. Here they provide free consultation and provision of medicines, free treatment of medical and surgical cases, including free Hepatitis B and C screening, free BSR and Blood Pressure tests, free ultrasounds, including free mammograms. 

Special Focus on Female healthcare
Transparent Hands significantly focuses on the health and well-being of the female population. Therefore, in their medical camps, the female patients are briefed about different diseases that pose a risk to the female population only. Facilities of free ultrasounds and mammograms are exclusively available for female patients. Apart from diagnosing and treating women with a wide range of medical issues, the women are registered for surgical treatments as well. As in many far-flung regions of the country, the basic facilities of sanitation are not available, menstrual healthcare, therefore, remains a huge challenge. As Transparent Hands believes in health care to be a primary and basic right of all human beings, therefore in their medical camps a special focus remains on educating young girls and women about feminine hygiene as well.

Transparent Hands Future

Transparent Hands aims to treat millions of patients across Pakistan. They intend to introduce mobile health clinic units in each province of the country. They also plan to increase the number of cochlear implant surgeries and expand the rehabilitation facilities. Transparent Hands is aiming to bring more hospitals across the country on their panel to increase the number of caregiving facilities in the majority of the cities as well. Transparent Hands intends to increase the number of medical camps and introduce health awareness seminars in all the big and small rural areas and suburbs across Pakistan. Below are some of the goals Transparent Hands plans to achieve:

Mobile health unit: Special project for 2021-2022
Transparent Hands is the only NGO in Pakistan that plans on investing in the Medical Health Unit. This Mobile Health Unit is their special project for 2021-2022, which will have an approximate cost of PKR 10.828 Million. For this project, they are also running a special campaign on their official website TransparentHands.org. This unit is going to have two main sections divided through a semi-partition wall. The first section will contain the doctor’s room and an ultrasound room. Whereas, the second section will contain a lab, waiting area, dispensary, and washroom. The unit is also planned to be equipped with electricity, water, and sanitation facilities, and proper arrangements for disposing of biomedical waste.

Hospital on wheels
Transparent Hands claims this mobile health unit as their little hospital on wheels. They believe that soon Transparent Hands will be able to fund more medical and surgical cases and assist more patients due to this initiative. They believe that as all the facilities will be embedded inside the medical health unit, they will be able to cater to the needs of the maximum number of patients in minimum time. Their zero-waste generation will be setting a new precedent in terms of respecting eco-friendly approaches. Their zero-waste generation will also be in compliance with the Government of Pakistan’s vision of “Clean Green Pakistan”. 

Transparency is Everything

Transparent Hands has close to 3,000 donors and they are increasing exponentially due to transparency, ease of use, constant feedback, and its unique model. Transparent Hands ensures that their donors receive 100% transparency at all levels; from the time when they donate to a specific campaign until the patient is completely recovered after surgery or medical procedure. After registering patients, through its vigorous medical and financial verification process, from across the country, they run online donation campaigns on their website that include complete details of the patients. Donors can then search, select that which touches their hearts, and donate from anywhere at any time via their easy-to-use and secure payment modes including Stripe, PayPal, through web or mobile app. Transparent Hands also ensures complete transparency through a continuous feedback loop between the patient and donors by providing the utilization details of donations. In addition, Transparent Hands offers various donation plans throughout the year to their donors on each international day recognized by the UN, religious holidays like Eid and Ramadan, and special campaigns. This is the best way for the donors to achieve gratification and serve the greater purpose of transforming the lives of poor and needy patients.

Be a Part of Transparent Hands Journey

In the end, it is imperative to mention that Transparent Hands is on a great mission, a mission to transform the lives of poor and needy patients across Pakistan. Do you know that every surgery they conduct creates an earning hand in a family or reduces their misery tremendously? Transparent Hands invites you, your friends, and family to be a part of this journey. Support Transparent Hands to achieve and exceed their mission of generating $100M in donations annually. So that millions of poor and needy patients might receive the required life-saving surgeries and medical procedures. This journey will not only transform your life in this temporary world but will also pave your path to Heavens in the hereafter – the real and eternal life.

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