The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7249 p672
17 May 2003

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

News summary

Related websites
Muslim Hands (more)

Pharmacist to take part in medical aid mission to Iraq

Aamer Naeem, MRPharmS, a project manager with the charity Muslim Hands, will be part of a medical aid team travelling to Iraq this week. The charity will take medical supplies to Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk.

In 1999, Mr Naeem travelled to Albania with Muslim Hands as a volunteer on a convoy of ambulances taking medical supplies to a refugee centre (PJ, 29 May 1999, p760). As a result of his work there, Muslim Hands appointed Mr Naeem as a full-time project manager. The charity is supporting relief work in 34 countries and Mr Naeem has travelled to Afghanistan, Kashmir, Pakistan and the Gambia to help with its work. He still works as a Saturday locum for National Co-operative Chemists in Nottingham to keep his professional knowledge up to date.

Mr Naeem told The Journal: “As soon as I started with Muslim Hands, I was thrown in at the deep end. I had to help with relief efforts for the floods in Mozambique and the droughts in Ethiopia and Balochistan, Pakistan. My knowledge and experience as a pharmacist and a manager have been invaluable to my work here. Medical projects are always costly to implement and thus being able to manage formularies and have informed discussions with our medical staff overseas is a definite advantage.”

The charity also aims to alleviate poverty through education and the provision of sanitation and clean drinking water.

For the trip to Iraq, the medical aid team will first travel to Jordan to procure supplies before going on to Baghdad to set up an office and to establish at least one longer term educational project or orphanage. “Thanks to our contacts in Baghdad and my pharmacy knowledge I should be able to target the resources we have towards the right medical supplies but, to be honest, there is only so much we can do.”

Muslim Hands can be contacted at 148–164 Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham NG8 1JX (tel 0115 911 7222, e-mail aamer@muslimhands.org).