The Society for Multiple Sclerosis Patients of Pakistan met with great success at the MS Patient Meetup held at Pearl Continental Hotel, Rawalpindi on Thursday, 18th October 2018.
MS patients from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and surrounding areas joined the session and discussed the issues they faced on a daily basis. Other topics concerning disease treatment were also discussed by patients, attendants, and their family.
MS patients eagerly came to meet other patients and talk about the problems they faced with participants. One patient from Rawalpindi was accompanied by his wife who told the society that her wheelchair ridden husband had not left the house in the last 4 years due to MS related mobility issues! He was too afraid to step out of the house and had lost interest in socializing and meeting people. However, he was eagerly looking forward to attend the meetup and meet with other MS patients.
The SMSPP President, Miss Afroz Syed, shared her thought that it was quite a surreal experience to meet up with the people and patients who contacted her via phone. Meeting them face to face gave her great pleasure as she could see that they are making efforts to improve themselves rather than drowning themselves in disease and depression.
The event started with recitation of the Holy Quran and was then followed by an address by the Society President. A video on Life With MS was also shared with patients during the session.
Dr. Asif Munawar of Holistic Healthcare (Pvt.) Limited addressed the attendees about Multiple Sclerosis and discussed existing treatment plans. Dr. Munawar also talked about the most feasible treatment plan and some important physiotherapeutic exercises to keep the patients active and moving. The session was a successful knowledge sharing experience for the participants, the SMSPP team, and everyone present in the meet-up. Patients shared their MS stories, discussed the available treatment options, and shared their concerns with other patients and the Society.
Check these photos from the MS patient meetup:
The Society for Multiple Sclerosis Patients of Pakistan has been working and will continue working on the cause until we achieve our goal to open an MS treatment center in Pakistan. We want to show our gratitude to Dr. Asif Munawar and his team for their participation and help with the session arrangement. We would also like to thank all the patients, participants, and donors for making the meetup a success. We are looking forward to many more meetups in the future!
If you attended the meetup, let us know your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below on how to improve patient meetups we hold in the future.
