Shocked by the high maternal and infant mortality rate in Tharparkar region, The Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) had opened a clinic via its Thar foundation in June 2015 named the Marvi Mother and Child Health Clinic. The clinic was opened at SECMC’s centrally located site office. Several local community members were involved in the running of the weekly clinic, while dispensary staff from a local pharmacy in nearby Islamkot had also been engaged.

Wishing to scale the benefits of this clinic and address even more issues related to maternity, in February 2017 SECMC CEO Shamsuddin Shaikh and Indus Hospital’s CEO Abdul Bari signed an agreement to for Indus Hospital to take over operational and management control of the clinic. The clinic is fully equipped with a specialized female gynecologist, a qualified nurse, an ultrasound machine, and provides gynecology related medical checkups, free of cost medical consultation services and distributes free medicines. Over three thousand patients visit the clinic annually.

The infant mortality rate in Pakistan is approximately 66 per 1,000 births, by far the highest in South Asia and Thar has the highest under 5 infant mortality rate in the country. Thar is ground zero for the fight to save our nation’s children. It is in this fight that an unlikely warrior emerges…..

This is the extraordinary tale of a woman who regularly secures life from the circumstances of death. Helped by Engro’s support for her course, Sona Devi is the first midwife in her village. She enrolled in the Marvi Mother & Child Clinic with the help of Engro to become a midwife. This is her story.