Pakistan’s First Ever Town Hall for the Advocacy of Thalassemia Awareness, Prevention and Management, initiated by Dr Asim Qidwai.

Pakistan’s first town hall meeting on Thalassemia awareness, prevention, and management was initiated by Dr Asim Qidwai founder & CEO of Afzaal Memorial Thalassemia Foundation (AMTF) on 18^th May 2022 at AMTF Main Office, Ayesha Manzil, F.B. Area, Karachi.

Event was well attended by professionals and students from Karachi University, FM105, YouTubers, Doctors from CPSP, the pharmaceutical industry, members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce, from business fraternity, media (print, electronic & social) and government officials.

The prestigious event marked the celebration of World Thalassemia Day and a two-decade old endeavour envisaged by Dr Qidwai. The Commissioner Karachi, respected Mr. Muhammad Iqbal Memon graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.

Talking to the participants through an interactive panel, discussions were moderated by Dr Qidwai, with equal participation from Thalassemia patients and families. Dr Qidwai and his dedicated team acquainted the attendees about the issues and stigmas of blood disorders and the efforts imparted by

AMTF to counter them. Dr Qidwai stressed the importance of regular Thalassemia screening before getting married and appealed for blood donations and contributions for saving lives.

With the vision of providing the utmost level of passionate care and creating mass awareness about childhood blood disorders since its inception in 2003, AMTF has grown from a two-room clinic and day-care to a 45-bedded state-of-the-art facility, the only free-of-cost Thalassemia and blood disorder service provider in Pakistan. It is credited to the untiring efforts of Dr Asim Qidwai and his motivated team of professionals, amassed with the privileged donors and prestigious members of the society for their contributions.

The noble cause of providing free-of-cost treatment with international standards to every patient, AMTF has saved over 4,500 lives and takes pride in having the first of its kind and only Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the region, providing state-of-the-art services to Thalassemia patients.

Recently, AMTF launched the Ehsaas karo kuch khaas karo program for getting life-saving blood donations from around the country via Pakistan’s first blood donation Red Bus, which is equipped with

the necessary medical amenities in a vehicular version. AMTF has initiated several programs to provide free-of-cost lab and diagnostics services, along with specialist consultancy clinics to the staff and families of various organizations.

A special thanks to Dr Farah, Dr Danish, Dr Muddassir, Dr Irfan, Dr Hadi, Dr Mushtaq, Dr Ghulam Sarver, Dr Ejaz, Mr. Zulfiqar Shah, Mr. Abdullah Abid, Mr. Ateeq ur Rehman, Mr. Rehan Yaseen, and Dr Waqar. A special thanks also to Mr. Zain Bashir, Mr. Saleem Akhtar, Mr. Faisal Kapadia & Team.

And last, but not the least, a very special thanks to Commissioner Karachi, Assistant Commissioner, and their team for sparing their time for this subject. Group photos were taken to commemorate a successful milestone – for the Thalassemia community and Pakistan!

The public relations (PR) for this event was handled by Mindmap Communications.

Qalambaaz expands beyond Pakistan & announces its seventh batch of fellows

Qalambaaz just started its seventh cycle, taking a select few screen-writers from concept to a full film script in just six months. These are writers from early to advanced careers. The program focuses on early career professional writers, not students.

This year, Qalambaaz has expanded to regional countries in South Asia that need infrastructural support towards script-writing. These include Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The founders hope to develop the pipeline and get more applications from the region in the coming years.

The mentors for the month-to-month scriptwriting meetings are international working filmmakers. This year’s mentors are returning mentors Terrie Samundra, Gabrielle Kelly, Shrihari Sathe, Arun K Vir & Sirah Haq with new mentor Tania Lotia. The focus is to also broaden the mentor circle from the region with mid and advanced career filmmakers from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka in the mix.  In Pakistan, the resident mentor will continue to be Framji Minwalla.

Qalambaaz, a brainchild of film-maker Iram Parveen Bilal, is run under her banner Parveen Shah Productions, in conjunction with Faisal Kapadia’s Mind Map Communications, Framji Minwalla & Hollywood based Chris Huntley’s Movie Magic Screenwriting Software.

This year’s fellows are Ashar Khalid, Tazeen Bari, Nuhash Humayun, Zohaib Bilal, Vishvajith Ekanayake & Musfira Shaffi.

For more on the fellows, please visit: https://www.iramparveenbilal.com/qalambaaz

Aima Baig enlightens Episode 02 of Velo Sound Station 2020 with Latin flavour.

With the resounding impact and electricity generated with the debut episode of Velo Sound Station – Pakistan’s stellar digital music platform that celebrates contemporary music that reflects today’s Pop culture – music lovers were equally mesmerized by the three class acts that feature on Episode Two that was released today on Friday November 27th 2020. Episode Two featured three original songs performed by iconic band STRINGS popular singer/songwriter, AIMA BAIG and rising star SHAMOON ISMAIL.

Strings helmed by Velo Sound Station producer Bilal Maqsood and lead vocalist Faisal Kapadia performed the original  ‘Piyar Ka Rog’ which was written by Anwar Maqsood, composed by Bilal Maqsood, and produced by Usman and Haroon which had the band experiment with the contemporary genre of Synth Wave. On Piyaar Ka Rog by Strings, Bilal Maqsood said; “Piyaar Ka Rog is one of the songs that I made for my lockdown sessions on Instagram. It began as just a piano version. But now with Faisal Kapadia’s vocals and a full production it sounds amazing!” String’s wardrobe was provided by designer to pop stars Ebtisam Ahmed (EB).

Aima Baig presented an original song entitled ‘Te Quiero Mucho’ (I  Love You So Much) written by Anwar Maqsood,  composed by Bilal Maqsood, and  produced  by Ahsen Pervaiz  which as its title suggests had a very lilting Latin feel and vibe to it. Te Quiero Mucho ‘is a nod towards the popular contemporary music trend and global phenomenon of Latin-American hits such as ‘Havana’ by Camila Cabello; ‘Smooth’ by Santana and ‘Despacito’ by Luis Fonsi, but imbues and invigorates the Spanish sound with a decidedly ‘desi ‘melody and flourish. On Aima Baig’s song Bilal Maqsood said; “Aima Baig’ is a born performer and she outdid herself the way she performed and sang this song”. This time we saw a very different Aima’s wardrobe for her ‘Velo Sound Station’ performance which was specially created by Mavi Kayani.

Shamoon Ismail performed a song called ‘Confetti’ written, composed and produced by the artist himself Shamoon Ismail rendered Confetti in his own quirky and individualistic style. On Shamoon’s song, Bilal Maqsood said; “there’s something very mysterious about the way Shamoon sings and performs”. Shamoon’s hip wardrobe was also specially designed by EB.

Bilal Maqsood’s overview on Episode Two was as; “all of the artists in Episode Two were included to give it colour and variety. This episode’s soundscape had an interesting spectrum. All the songs fell into the current sphere of Pop music but all had their own very distinct styles.”