Latest news with #EdhiFoundation
Arab News
14-05-2025
- Climate
- Arab News
Pakistan Met Office warns of heatwave from May 15-20
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Wednesday warned of a heatwave in the country from May 15 to 20, urging citizens to take precautionary measures to protect themselves. The warning comes amid increasingly erratic climate patterns across South Asia, with cities in Pakistan experiencing more frequent and intense heat waves in recent years, a trend climate experts link to global warming. In June 2024, almost 700 people died in a heat wave in less than a week, with most deaths recorded in the port city of Karachi and other cities of the southern province of Sindh, according to the Edhi Foundation charity. 'The Met Office predicted that a high pressure is likely to grip most parts of the country on May 15,' the PMD said in a statement. 'Day temperatures are likely to remain 4°C to 6°C above normal in southern half (Sindh, southern Punjab, and Balochistan) from May 15-20.' Day temperatures in the central and upper Punjab province, the federal capital Islamabad, and northern areas like Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan would rise 5°C to 7°C above normal from May 15-19, the Met Office added. Normal temperatures in the southern parts of Pakistan during May typically range between 40°C and 45°C, while they are between 36°C and 41°C in central and upper Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Islamabad, average temperatures range from 34°C to 37°C. Pakistan ranks among the top ten countries most vulnerable to climate change and has grappled in recent years with increasingly frequent extreme weather events, including deadly heat waves and floods. A 2015 heatwave claimed over 2,000 lives in Karachi alone, while floods in 2022 left more than 1,700 dead and over 33 million displaced nationwide.
Express Tribune
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Charity-run state
Listen to article Charitable organisations in Pakistan have become pillars of support for millions, stepping in where government initiatives have fallen short. While the Edhi Foundation's ambulance network is arguably the best example of a charity filling a massive gap left by the government, many other charities and NGOs have also stepped in to provide services that would normally be the government's responsibility. With a staggering 50 million Pakistanis contributing Rs619 billion in Zakat in 2024, the charity landscape has shown a remarkable capacity to mobilise resources for social good. But people should not need to rely on the goodwill of other people to help them survive. Instead, the government needs to ensure that people's fundamental rights — education, security, and, by some measures, access to healthcare — are guaranteed. Unfortunately, the federal and provincial governments have all stupendously failed to provide citizens with almost most of their rights, whether constitutional or God-given. The reliance on charity for essential services raises concerns about the government's accountability and responsibility. While charitable contributions offer much-needed relief to the underprivileged, they cannot replace the systematic frameworks that governments are obligated to provide. The Benazir Income Support Programme, for instance, has been unable to keep pace with the scale of community-driven financial assistance, highlighting a mismatch between the levels of need and state intervention. A recent report even noted that charitable contributions have outstripped federal excise revenues, meaning that the national 'charity budget' is bigger than the actual federal budget. This is why many people now choose charities as their default social service providers rather than as backups. If we are ever to get to the point where charities complement the government, rather than replace it, the government needs to get out of the business of promoting - and collecting - charity and focus on fulfilling its actual responsibilities.
Arab News
28-03-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Pakistani charities report modest recovery in Ramadan despite easing inflation
KARACHI: Two main charities in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi have reported a modest recovery in the collection of donations this Ramadan despite easing inflation, top officials at the organizations said this week, as the annual inflation rate slowed to 1.5 percent in February, the lowest in nearly a decade. Major welfare organizations such as the Edhi Foundation, Pakistan's largest charity known for its extensive network of ambulances and shelters, and the Alamgir Welfare Trust (AWT), another main social welfare body, said they expected either stable or slightly higher contributions this year compared to the last two years when high inflation rates had curtailed donations. Pakistan's inflation peaked at 38 percent in May 2023 before gradually easing, with the government expecting it to remain within 1–3 percent in the coming months. Every year, Edhi and AWT collectively gather and spend as much as Rs4 billion ($14.4 million) on initiatives like sheltering orphans, burying unclaimed dead bodies and providing free food, health and education facilities to thousands of vulnerable families across Pakistan. 'This year we will hopefully see 10 percent extra donations toward our annual budget of Rs3 billion,' Chohdry Nisar Ahmed, the chairman of AWT, told Arab News. Headquartered in the Bahadurabad neighborhood of Karachi, the organization operates on a daily budget of around Rs10 million ($36,000). Ahmed said inflation had adversely affected the charity's work in recent years, though the situation was now beginning to improve. 'Earlier, the effect of inflation was significant. Now that impact has reduced a bit,' he said 'But as the gold price has increased now, so people are bound to pay more Zakat. We did experience a little up and down in donations but not much.' Zakat is a mandatory form of almsgiving in Islam, calculated as a percentage of one's wealth, including gold holdings. This means the higher the price of gold, the greater the amount eligible individuals are required to pay. The AWT chief said he wanted to expand his network of services by constructing a 14-story building in Karachi, the commercial capital of Pakistan. To start the construction work on acquired land, he said, AWT needed at least Rs1.5 billion ($5.4 million). The organization also wants to enroll at least 50,000 children in schools in addition to the 40,000 it is already educating. The chairman of the Edhi Foundation, which runs the world's largest volunteer ambulance service, also reported a modest hike in donations this year. 'Charity in the first twenty days of Ramadan is almost the same as compared to last year,' Faisal Edhi told Arab News. 'The increase [this year] is very little, not much. We cannot call it a substantial increase.' Edhi Foundation is preparing to expand its 2,000-vehicle ambulance fleet amid growing demand for emergency response services across Pakistan. It already runs a shelter home that houses 5,000 homeless people, including women and children. 'Our annual budget ranges from Rs3-4 billion that we cover from donations,' Edhi said, adding that a part of the donations came from the Pakistani community living in Britain and the United States, but most came from Pakistani donors belonging to the middle or working classes. 'Seeing the inflation, it seems like the [total] charity will be same as last year and our last year was not very promising either,' Edhi said. 'The group that gives us charity, they belong to middle and lower-middle classes or the working class and the working class has been affected the most [by inflation] at the moment.'
Express Tribune
26-03-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
Edhi funds $4m equipmentfor JPMC
The Edhi Foundation has announced a funding of $4 million for the equipment for 'Bilquis & Abdul Sattar Edhi - Breast Radiation Bay' at Radiation Oncology, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Karachi. The Radiation Bay, which is set to begin its services in April next year, will be jointly operated by Patients Aid Foundation (PAF-JPMC) and the Sindh government, said Dr. Tariq Mahmood, Professor Emeritus, Radiation Oncology, Patients' Aid Foundation, on Tuesday. At the facility, up to 160 breast cancer patients will get free treatment on state of the art Helix Tomotherapy units on daily basis. Sindh govt has also pledged to provide funds for repair and maintenance of the equipment after expiry of its annual warranty.
Arab News
14-03-2025
- General
- Arab News
Fasting on the frontline: Karachi ambulance driver navigates chaos to save lives during Ramadan
KARACHI: In Karachi, where traffic is relentless and sirens are a constant, 63-year-old Ghulam Nabi has spent the past 14 years behind the wheel of an Edhi Foundation ambulance, responding to emergencies in a city where every second can mean the difference between life and death. The Edhi Foundation, one of the world's largest charities, operates nearly 1,800 ambulances, including over 200 in Karachi, where it was founded by the late veteran philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, who passed away in July 2016. Nabi is one of the hundreds of drivers keeping the wheels of these ambulances going. Even during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, he remains committed to his duty. Often, his iftar — the evening meal to break the fast, which most people share with their families at home — happens on the road, between dispatches. 'Whether it's sunny, hot, stormy, rainy, Ramadan or Eid, no matter what, we have to do our duty and serve humanity,' he said in a recent conversation with Arab News. Living in an old apartment in the city's historic Kharadar area, he begins his day by walking to the Edhi headquarters nearly a kilometer away. From there, his shift unfolds unpredictably, sometimes requiring him to attend to road accidents, rush cardiac arrest patients to hospitals or transport the deceased to their final resting places. 'Just yesterday, it was time to break the fast. Five to ten minutes before iftar, we were informed that an accident had occurred on Mai Kolachi Road,' Nabi recalled, adding that he had to leave iftar and rush to the spot. 'On the way, someone gave us dates, and we broke our fast with them,' he added. Nabi recalled that at one point during Ramadan, he was asked to pick up a corpse from a house where it had remained unattended for nearly a week. As he reached the place, he realized it was decomposed and in such a condition that no one wanted to go near it. But Nabi handled it, giving it to the relatives in a casket after completing the required legal procedures. 'We had to carry the body while fasting,' he said. 'FRONTLINE HEROES' Muhammad Amin, who oversees the Karachi Control Room at the Edhi Foundation, holds his team, particularly Nabi, in high esteem. 'He is an excellent driver, and all the qualities required in his job are found in him,' he told Arab News. 'From keeping the ambulance clean to its general upkeep, following driving protocols and handling emergencies, Ghulam Nabi excels in all these aspects.' Amin noted Ramadan always brought unique challenges to the drivers since their workload never decreased. 'There was a fire near Chakar Hotel on the Super Highway [yesterday], where our team, which included the drivers, went,' he said. 'The drivers were fasting, but they worked through the fire and performed their duties.' 'If you look at it, these drivers can truly be called our frontline heroes,' he added. Nabi said his entry into this line of work was unexpected. He used to run a small business that suffered losses, forcing him to shut it down. As he started looking for employment opportunities, a friend referred him to Edhi in 2010. 'Since that day, I have been engaged in humanitarian work,' he said. 'SAVING HUMANITY' Karachi, a megacity with over 20 million people, suffers from broken roads, congested streets and widespread disregard for traffic rules. These conditions significantly increase the challenges of Nabi's job, making him fear that he might not be able to reach people in need on time. Despite such hardships, he said he was proud of his work and found fulfillment in transporting patients and the injured to hospitals for treatment. 'Whoever saves a life, saves all of humanity,' he said, his eyes shining. To Nabi, his work is a continuation of the legacy of Abdul Sattar Edhi, the late humanitarian whose foundation has provided free ambulance services for decades. 'Here, we are carrying forward Edhi Sahib's mission,' he said. 'Humanitarian work will never stop.' As dusk falls and families across Karachi gather for iftar at home, Nabi finds himself away from his loved ones. 'Our hearts also long to break our fast with our children, but our iftar is often on the road or in the ambulance, and we have to break our fast with dates or water,' he said, as he opened his fast with the evening prayer call while sitting on a roadside bench in a Karachi street.
