VEHICLE SPONSORED TO THE AURUM INSTITUTE
The Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb sponsored a vehicle to the Aurum Institute on the 14th May 2012.
The vehicle will enable the Aurum Institute to reach prospective clients in local SMEs in Selby, Booysens and other areas. The vehicle is branded with both the Institutes logos further cementing the partnership between these Institutions.
Prof. Bhikha handed over the keys to the vehicle to Aurum’s representative at the premises on the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb.
TIBB SPONSORS R240 000 TO FOOTPRINTS HOSPICE
The Footprints Hospice home based care service got a big boost all thanks to the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb’s R240 000 sponsorship.
Hospice manager Marry Jwani said they applied for the sponsorship in October 2011. “An inspection was carried out by the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb and they were impressed by the work and efforts on the hospice”. The funds will be used to pay the salaries of the community health nurse, the ancillary health worker and the driver. Lucy from the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb said.
“This enables them to provide health education, preventative advice, medicine support, diet improvements, practical exercise sessions and other services”. The funds also provide for food hampers and the food garden.
PROF BHIKHA PARTICIPATES IN RUHR-UNIVERSITY BOCHUM (GERMANY) CONFERENCE
Prof Rashid Bhikha presented a paper on the “Progress in Education and the Practice of Unani-Tibb in South Africa”, at an International Conference on: History, Culture and Science: Asian and European Perspectives on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) that was held at Ruhr-Universitat Bochum Germany. Representatives from numerous countries including Iran, France, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Pakistan, together with many research scholars in Germany, were invited to participate in the conference.
Topics covered included: (1) Medical Knowledge and Culture Identity- Historical Perspectives; (2) Worlds Apart? Comparison of Medical Concepts, Methods of Diagnosis and Therapy; (3) CAM Pharmacology between Medical Practice, Science, and the Market; and (4) Medical Pluralism Today: State, Society, and Globalization, in which Prof Bhikha participated.
Prof Bhikha’s presentation included the recognition of Unani-Tibb with the Department of Health, the various training initiatives including the training of Unani-Tibb doctors, the establishment of Unani-Tibb medical practices, as well as the public awareness campaign of the Tibb medical discipline.
The delegates at the conference commented positively on the progress that was made in South Africa, on the globalization of Unani-Tibb.
OSIZWENI HEALTHY LIVING DAY
Osizweni Community Centre, an educational and counseling centre for orphans and their guardians, held a Healthy Living Day on 23 February. Many local NGOS took part, including Jozi Hlomile, Siyathuthuka, and Hlergiwe Women of Destiny.
Representatives from Government were also there, including the Community Worker Programme and the Department of Environmental Health. The event started off energetically at 7am with a vigorous 5km walk around Ennerdale involving the young and young-at-heart, men, women and children. Marshals in luminous yellow jackets and a bakkie containing first aiders helped to make this part of the day go smoothly.
Participants gathered to run races inside the perimeter of Osizweni, before different community groups performed songs. The local Department of Health led an exercise programme for everyone to join in. The Centre Manger, Lettie Ngubeni, and Alinah Mabaso, the Tibb Lifestyle Advisor, then celebrated the launch of the Homestead garden project – distributing 60 wheelbarrows donated by Tibb to those who were making the most effort with their gardens. 280 families from the community have now begun to establish homestead gardens. Women sold vegetables from individual gardens and from Osizweni’s community garden to those attending.
And people queued patiently for the final item on the agenda: a nutritious and balanced lunch, which included centre-grown vegetables. Anna Motloung, 58, from Mountain View, who won a medal for winning the walk and who also received a wheelbarrow, said: “I feel very happy with how Osizweni is helping me and others around me. They are encouraging me to live a healthy lifestyle, and now I have a garden I don’t struggle buying vegetables and I feel much better.”
AURUM AND TIBB ESTABLISH THE INTEGRATIVE HEALTHY LIVING PARTNERSHIP
The Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb has a proud history of providing healthcare and life practices founded on age old principles of preventative integrated care and developed through rigorous scientific research. The Tibb health sciences are perfectly suited to the South African environment that requires empowering, effective and sustainable forms of health care.
In keeping in with its commitment to community health the TIBB Institute works with and supports many health and care-giving NGO’s, especially in communities suffering from the devastating effects of HIV / AIDS and TB. On 3 February 2012, the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb agreed to provide R500 000 in funding to the Aurum Institute to advise on lifestyle adjustment for people living with HIV and TB within Johannesburg’s inner city.
The joint initiative will be centred on Aurum’s well-established health clinic at the busy Bree Street Taxi Rank, through which 500,000 commuters pass every day, driven by more than 500 drivers. Over 20,000 people have been tested for HIV or TB by the Aurum clinic team since inception in 2008. ’This initiative with Aurum is particularly ground-breaking’ said Professor Rashid Bhikha, founder and chairman of the Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb. ‘We will assist in providing Tibb-trained nurses who can show tested patients how to take simple but important steps to improve their own health.’ Tibb will also fund a vehicle enabling Aurum to reach prospective clients in local SMEs in Selby, Booysens and other areas. ‘We’re very pleased with this new partnership, which will give a new dimension to our counseling endeavours, particularly in assisting clients to understand the importance of diet, exercise, nutrition and other health-seeking behaviours in an holistic view of health’, said Aurum Deputy CEO Dr Dave Clark, ‘and we look forward to sharing this knowledge with the City of Johannesburg Higher Ability Selection Test (HAST) Programme’.
The Aurum Institute is an internationally recognised, specialist research and health programme implementation organisation. Aurum has spent the last decade focused on researching, monitoring, treating and managing the HIV and TB co-epidemic, making a substantial and measurable difference to the lives of the people of Southern Africa.
CUPPING PRESENTATION HELD FOR THE GAUTENG TRADITIONAL AND FAITH MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS
The Tibb Institute presented a cupping workshop to the 33 members of the Gauteng Traditional and Faith Medical Practitioners (GTFMP) on the 24th November 2011, in support of the partnership drawn up between the two medical bodies. The GTFMP use U Ku-Gcaba, an eliminative therapy, which has a similar premise to that of cupping. The workshop was aimed at empowering traditional healers on the rationale and clinical benefits of cupping. Tibb practitioners Dr. Joy Saville and Professor Rashid Bhikha presented the workshop. This is the first of the workshops in the partnership between the institute and the GTFMP
TEMPERAMENTS AND RELATIONS IN THE WORKPLACE
Dr Mujeeb Hoosen was invited by Mr Eugene Daniels, the Director of the Department of Eduction, Metro South District, to facilitate a talk on “Temperaments and relations in the workplace” on 10 June 2011 at their staff teambuilding, which included all staff i.e. Management as well as Support Staff.
Mr Daniels attended a previous talk of Dr Hoosen and was very impressed and invited him to speak to the staff, as they had lots of conflict in the Department.
The talk brought about many “lightbulb” moments for the staff, lots of laughs and understanding of their colleagues once they identified their different temperaments, hopefully which will resolve some of this tension and conflict within their workplace.
GF JOOSTE EMERGENCY UNIT RECEIVES 2 MILLION UPGRADE
GF Jooste Hospital, has received over R2 million to upgrade its Emergency unit. This donation was made by the Ibn Institute of Tibb, a family trust managed by the Oasis Crescent Fund. These investors donate non-permissible incomein terms of Shari’ah investment principles to charity via the Oasis Crescent Fund Trust.
“The Oasis Crescent Fund Trust feels fortunate to bring this meaningful relief through this generous donation from Tibb, to the communities of Manenberg, Gugulethu, Nyanga and Klipfontein,” says Shaheen Ebrahim, Chairman of the Oasis Group and the Oasis Crescent Fund Trust.
“We saw the pressures placed on the existing Emergency Unit was and took the opportunity to assist the Western Cape Department of Health in upgrading and refurbishing the Unit. Through this donation our organization supports the WC Department of Health’s mission to provide equitable access to quality health services in partnership; says Professor Rashid Bhikha, Chairperson of the Tibb Foundation.
Minister Theuns Botha, Health Minister for the Western Cape welcomed the generous donation from the Tibb Institute. “The unit is an adult Acute medicine and Emergency Unit, with a team of three doctors and 10 nurses. It has a four-bed resuscitation area with ventilator support. The new improvement will also create a dedicated gynecology area for the improvement of women’s health. Thank you to the Tibb Foundation in making this much needed upgrade possible, says Minister Theuns Botha.
GF Jooste has one of the highest volume of emergency cases in the Western Cape. The hospital last received infra structural improvement in 1996.
Botha added that the provincial government’s investment into capital projects and upgrades are the biggest the Province has ever undertaken at one given time. “The Khayelitsha and Mitchell’s Plain Hospitals that are under construction are milestones in the history of this province. In addition the Department has 30 capital projects under construction, 18 capital projects in planning stage and 13 projects in retention. At present there are 88 in feasibility stage.”
The total estimated cost of all capital projects for the next five years exceeds R8 billion. These projects vary in size and extent, the smallest being an ambulance station of R10 million and the largest being the estimated R1 billion restorations and re-development of Valkenberg Hospital.
For more information, please contact: ● Mr Sithembiso Magubane, Snr. Communications Officer, Western Cape Provincial Department of Health on (021) 483 9981 or 0713153581.
Ms Caroline Davids, Provincial Manager, Western Cape, Ibn Sina Institute of Tibb on 021-6384487 or 083 748 1021.
TIBB JOINS HAND WITH MUSLIM AIDS PROGRAMME (MAP) HOME IN JOHANNESBURG
Tibb has agreed to fund the renovation of the Muslim Aids Programme Children’s Care Home in Fordsburg. This renovation work is greatly needed and will significantly improve the quality of life of the young children living there. Building work is scheduled to start in June. The Children’s Care Home houses between 15 and 20 children aged between birth to late adolesence.
The Muslim Aids Programme (MAP) is a joint project of the Jamiatul Ulama, Islamic Careline and Islamic Medical Association.
MAP runs workshops, trains Aids educators and caregivers, holds seminars and uses the media to promote Aids Awareness and training.
map@islamsa.org.za