[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 797

[Anne Krischock]

 . 1510: Former scholar keeps vaccine pipeline running 

 
Mon Jun 9, 2008 9:29 pm (PDT) 
Former scholar keeps vaccine pipeline running in Pakistan, Afghanistan

By Dan Nixon 

Once an Ambassadorial Scholar, Farrukh Jamal Syed today plays a key 
role in the battle to end polio. His Pakistan-based company 
manufactures vitally needed vaccine carriers that are being provided 
through a PolioPlus Partners grant. 

Substantial funding for the grant came from Dan Holzapfel, of the 
Rotary Club of Cleveland, Queensland, Australia.

The Pakistan PolioPlus Committee saved around US$40,000, thanks to 
the involvement of this former Rotary Foundation Scholar, says 
committee chair Abdul Haiy Khan of Syed's contribution to the polio 
eradication effort. Khan adds that other carriers cost at least three 
times more than the ones produced by Simcon.

Khan had approached Syed with the committee's need for an easily 
transportable carrier that would keep vaccines safe in temperatures 
as high as 115 degrees Farenheit (46 degrees centigrade). Syed was up 
to the task: His firm, Simcon International, specializes in 
industrial product design, development, and manufacturing. 

Since 2006, Simcon has produced approximately 100,000 carriers. "It 
is a nice feeling of satisfaction and great achievement [to work] for 
humanity and The Rotary Foundation," Syed says. "Work for the Rotary 
name has great importance in my life." 

Syed has maintained ties with Rotary ever since he studied computer-
assisted design and manufacturing as a 1989-90 Ambassadorial Scholar 
in England. He later joined his sponsor Rotary Club of Islamabad 
(Metropolitan), but was unable to maintain membership in Rotary after 
moving his company to a remote area. He has since relocated his 
business to downtown Karachi and says he would like to rejoin the 
organization that helped launch his career.

"The experience I gained from the scholarship directly helped me in 
building the concept for Simcon," he says, adding that it also helped 
shape his worldview. "Generally, people from any part of the world 
have the same feelings and the same needs. What matters is how 
quickly we can understand each other by establishing good 
communication and giving respect." 

Source: Rotary International News
Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary
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