Starting Points: community service

Sep 15, 2009

Muslim American Doctors Give Back to Their Communities

Free health services answer Obama’s call to service

By Ahmed Mohamed
Staff Writer

Washington — “I see us as Americans. This is our home, not a home away from home. We chose to come here; we chose this country as our country. America is our country. We were given chances here for education, business; we were allowed to be who we are. Now it’s time for us to pay back the country that accepted us with open arms,” said Rodwan Saleh, president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, Texas, during a fundraising event for the Al-Shifa Clinic in Fort Worth, Texas.

Al-Shifa is but one example of a free Muslim clinic that serves the American community regardless of the ethnic or religious background of patients.

Muslim community-based health organizations have emerged steadily since before the turn of this century, a good example being the University Muslim Medical Association (UMMA), one of the oldest free Muslim health care clinics, which has served the Los Angeles community since 1996.

Other examples are the Al-Shifa Clinic in San Bernardino County in California (2000), the Ibn Sina Foundation Clinic in Houston (2001), the Inner-City Muslim Action Network Health Clinic in Chicago (2002), the Compassionate Care Network in Chicago (2004) and the Health Unit on Davison Avenue Clinic in Detroit (2004). Organizations like Zaman International in Detroit are slowly emerging, and are dedicated to providing humanitarian relief as well as end-of-life care and women’s shelters. Other Muslim-initiated community health programs are developing in Chicago; Baltimore; northern Virginia; Las Vegas; Buffalo, New York; and elsewhere, building on the models established by these pioneering organizations.

A recent report by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding outlined how Muslim community-based health organizations are providing a critical safety net in health care access for the most underserved communities in America.

Titled “Caring for Our Neighbors,” the study provides a picture of the motivations that drove Muslim-American health professionals to become involved in these clinics. The report also describes the demographic makeup of the populations they serve and the clinics’ growing role in American public health and community building.

Researchers found that while the clinics’ service models may vary, their services are universally available to everyone, regardless of their patients’ ethnic or religious background, at a low cost or even free of charge. The vast majority of their patients come from families living below the federal poverty level and who almost always lack health insurance.

According to the report’s findings, the clinics operate on lean budgets, relying heavily on donated equipment and volunteer physicians, many of whom are first-generation American Muslims who are driven by a desire to give back to the country that welcomed them as immigrants. The report also documents the emergence of a new American-born generation of Muslims dedicated to serving the only country they have ever known.

“What we found is that these clinics are stepping in to meet a critical need in communities across America,” said Lance Laird, a fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. “That service model remains all the more important today as rising health care costs are leaving a growing number of families uninsured.”

Muslim-American doctors have become a part of the solution for the current health insurance crisis, as seen in four examples of health clinics across the nation.

UMMA Clinic, California. The University Muslim Medical Association (UMMA) provides a good example of these clinics. Located in the heart of south central Los Angeles, the clinic serves an impoverished but culturally rich population that is 73 percent Latino and 25 percent African Americans. It serves the homeless as well as the unemployed and working poor who do not receive insurance or qualify for state assistance, in one of the poorest and most medically underserved areas of the region.

“UMMA shall strive to pursue opportunities for interaction and understanding between Muslim Americans and people of all other cultural, economic and religious backgrounds,” said Awais Chughtai, community relations coordinator, “to promote the well-being of the underserved by providing access to high quality health care for all, regardless of ability to pay.”

Chughtai expressed the clinic founders’ vision: “The services, activities and governance of UMMA shall reflect the Islamic values and moral principles which inspired its founders. These include the core values which are universally shared and revered by society at large, such as service, compassion, dignity, social justice and ethical conduct.”

The UMMA clinic was launched to “exemplify the positive contributions of Muslims to American society and to serve as a model of institutional excellence for the American community, by upholding the highest standards in all aspects of its services, activities and governance, also to provide medical education and training to future health professionals,” Chughtai said.

Al-Shifa Clinic, Texas. The Al-Shifa Clinic is a weekly free clinic in Fort Worth. It operates under the umbrella of the Muslim Community Center for Human Services organization.

“It provides services for general medical problems such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and minor infections. If these problems are not treated at an early stage, they may lead to more serious problems such as heart disease, stroke or kidney failure, which can result in more serious consequences for the patients and their families,” said Dr. M. Basheer Ahmed, the clinic chairman.

“Al-Shifa Clinic served 1,200 patients in year 2006, 1,500 patients in 2007, and the number of patients has increased to 1,800 in the year 2008,” Ahmed said.

Muslim Clinic, Ohio. Muslim-American doctors in Ohio joined the Give Back Convoy, a group of Muslim doctors who opened the first free clinic in Ohio run by Muslim physicians in 2008. The clinic now offers free health care services to underserved populations. “It is a small attempt by Muslims to help solve the health insurance crisis in America,” said Dr. Esam Alkhawaga, a psychiatrist.

The clinic is based in Montgomery County, the region around Dayton, Ohio. “It serves adults and children, regardless of race or religion,” Alkhawaga said. The county “has nearly 70,000 uninsured residents, about 13 percent of its population.”

Dr. Ramzieh Azmeh, the co-founder of the Ohio Free Clinic, said, “At least 15 Muslim primary care physicians are signed up and credentialed to work at the Muslim Clinic of Ohio,” and “another 50 specialists are also ready to contribute.”

Alkhawaga said, “Our goal is to engage the Muslim community in outreach work, and let people know that Muslims are part of this community.”

“Most of us are physicians and we felt as Muslims this could be the least we could do to give back to America for what they’ve done for us,” Alkhawaga said.

Muslim Outreach Free Clinic, Michigan. In June 2009, a group of Flint-area physicians wanted to address the community’s health care crisis and decided to use their skills and expertise to help the Flint community. They established the Muslim Outreach Free Clinic, which opened by offering a half-day of free health care services per week to lower-income people.

“Our main goal is to serve people who don’t qualify for any kind of health insurance and don’t have enough income to afford anything on their own,” Dr. Ahmed Arif said. “We’ve also contacted diagnostic facilities and labs who’ll provide us with free services. A lot of people have been very generous and forthcoming to help us provide all aspects of care for long-term and chronic illnesses.”

Muslim doctors in Minnesota also accepted the challenge. The Islamic Center of Minnesota has taken on the role of a first-access, primary-care clinic for anyone who needs it with the Al-Shifa Clinic.

“It is our Islamic duty to address the issue of providing people with equal access to health care. We serve anyone in the community, both Muslim and non-Muslim,” said Sobia Sarwar, clinic coordinator. “It’s the volunteer doctors that really make it happen. Without their skill set we really would not be able to contribute to the community. The fact that they dedicate their time and effort is enormous.”