Giving back to their country and showing the real image of their faith, a group of Muslim doctors are championing an initiative to
help poor American patients in the northeastern state of Ohio.
"We want to do our best in helping out, especially in these economically challenging times," Pediatrician Malika Haque told the Columbus Dispatch daily on Friday, January 15.
Haque is leading a group of 22 Muslim physicians and seven nurses to open a free clinic to provide medical help to uninsured poor Americans.
The Noor Community Clinic, set to open Friday, offers free medical check-ups and counseling for people without medical insurance or government help.
"We love our country, we love our nation and we love our community," said Haque, who has spent most of her time from 1973 to 2005 working at a series of community clinics run by Children's Hospital for underserved children.
The new clinic is part of a Muslim initiative in 2008 to open free clinics for helping uninsured Americans.
Under the initiative, Muslim clinics were opened in Cincinnati and Dayton.
Americans Muslims have launched similar initiative across the country.
More than a decade since its establishment, University Muslim Medical Association (UMMA) is now serving about 16,000 US patients of all religious backgrounds.
In 1996, a group of US Muslim students, dissatisfied with the lack of Muslim involvement in solving America's social issues, launched the first full-time charitable clinic in the US.
The US is the world's richest nation but the only industrialized democracy that does not provide health care coverage to all of its citizens.
The US spends more than double what Britain, France and Germany do per person on health care.
But it lags behind other countries in life expectancy and infant mortality, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
* Muslim help
The free Muslim clinics are a new effort by American Muslims to portray a better image of their faith.
"Right now, the image of Muslims in general is kind of on the low side," said Haque.
America’s Muslims, estimated at between six to seven million, have been in the eye of storm since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Though things have slightly improved after Barack Obama was elected president last year, US Muslims came again under the spotlight again after a deadly shooting at a military base in Texas and a foiled bomb plot on a US plane by a young Nigerian.
"We don't want to push our faith," said Saida Yassin, a Muslim doctor volunteer in the Noor Clinic.
"We just want to show society that, as Muslims, we are united as a group and want to help."
Dr. Faozan Narvel, another Muslim volunteer, believes the mission will not be easy.
Changing the opinion "of someone who is ignorant is going to be tough," Narvel said.
"That's not what we're trying to do.
"The main idea is patient care.
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