AA Labels to raise more funds for its health clinic in Pakistan

A family-owned business in Peterborough, UK provides free medical care to families in Pakistan at its Sakjina Al Shafa Clinic since 2009. AA Labels is now planning to raise additional GPB 200,000 (USD 262,000) to purchase angiography and ECG equipment, which will enable to diagnose a range of heart conditions.

The clinic was established by AA Labels’ owner, Sohail Sethi, who was born in the UK but spent his early formative years living with family in Lahore, before marrying his wife, Asifa, who also originates from the city.

‘The motivation was to assist with the alleviation of hardship associated with poverty through the provision of free medical services in a city that has connections and history of my family, said Sohail Sethi, AA Labels founder. ‘A property was acquired for the purpose of the relocation and the idea for a clinic to occupy the ground floor area was born. When the clinic opened it was intended to serve a small local community in north of Lahore, providing free basic consultation, medical and prescription services for around 300 patients a week, but it has since grown to become five times that size due to increasing demand.’

The clinic serves a particularly poor neighborhood in Lahore and unfortunately, the provision of free medical services such as this are not common in Pakistan, hence the need to expand the size of the clinic and the range of services provided to keep pace with demand.

‘As AA Labels continues to grow as a business, it enables us to provide free general medical services to more and more families and improve access to treatment and equipment,’ added Sethi.

The clinic is entirely funded by Medicaid Action, the charity set up by Sohail and Asifa to support the day-to-day running of the clinic. Money raised by the charity enables the clinic to open six days a week and employ six full-time members of staff who now see around 300 patients per day for consultations and repeat medication for illnesses, such as asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure.

You can learn more about AA Labels and the charity run by the company from our feature article ‘Leading by example’ in Issue 6 of Labels & Labeling.