In a small quiet medical clinic in a poor neighborhood in Detroit, the uninsured are received with courtesy and kindness, see a physician, have the required diagnostic work done and sent on their way with the medication they need or a prescription for it and instructions on where to get it filled. They also have a return appointment. This Muslim-led clinic and a few others across the country function with volunteer staff and reduced-price vendors, trying to meet the healthcare needs of people desperate for medical care.

A diverse group of patients waits to be seen in HUDA’s reception room.

Their service goes on quietly amid a veritable firestorm of debate over the issue of health care — or the lack of it — in America. As usual, there’s a split down the middle between conservatives and liberals over the best way to remedy the crisis, which evidences itself in the fact that close to 50 million people in this country have no insurance at all. These people are turned away from doctor’s offices and barely tolerated in hospital emergency rooms, where they often end up because appropriate medical intervention was not available to them in a timely manner.
The difference, says Dr. Jukaku Tayeb, who is one of the founders and supporters of the clinic, is that Muslims view healthcare for everyone as a human right, not as a political issue. That gives the subject greater urgency and also makes it incumbent upon Muslims to follow the Qur’anic guidelines on sharing one’s wealth for the welfare of everyone in a community.

The HUDA Clinic opened in 2004. The name is an acronym for Health Unit on Davison Avenue, although the word huda in Arabic coincidentally means “right guidance.” Located on the upper level inside The Muslim Center in Detroit, the clinic is currently looking for new quarters to allow planned expansion of services. And no wonder. For the first few years, the clinic was open only every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. In the last month, they began opening from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays as well. From a few patients a day their services have expanded to sometimes 45 patients in the four hour time slot.

Clinical Director Angela Rosemary Sekou, RN (L) and Dr. Mohammad Asad Ali at work in the clinic’s small pharmacy of mostly-donated medications.

Brother Mitchell Shamseddine is chairman of the board that directs the clinic’s administration. He manages the day-to-day operations. He says about 70% of the patients seen are African American, about 20% Bangladeshi and 10% are others. The vast majority are non-Muslim. Mitchell says the unemployed, the working poor, and immigrants who do not qualify for federal aid make up the patient population. Some people would qualify for state or federal assistance – Medicaid or Medicare – but have not been able to get through all the red tape. “The system is intimidating for many,” he said. Referring people to social workers to assist them in getting available services is another function of the clinic.
Dr. Zahid Sheikh, a longtime family practice physician, is medical director, supervising an array of volunteer physicians, medical students, nurses and pharmacy techs.

And running the clinic as director is registered nurse Angie Rosemary Sekou.

“Disease does not discriminate,” she told me on a recent visit. She works a full time job but gives back by running the clinic on a voluntary basis.

On that visit, Dr. Mohammad Asad Ali, a pulmonary and critical care fellow at Wayne State University, was the physician of the day. “I am a fellow, but once a month I come here. It gives you an opportunity to see real life, to see how people are dealing with all these problems.” Ali said the main thing to remember is that most of the patients they see are hard workers who have lost their jobs. “Ethnic minorities are suffering the most,” he said.

Huda Clinic provides comprehensive outpatient screening and assessment for widely occurring diseases. Medical services include outpatient health assessments, blood pressure screening, cholesterol monitoring, diabetes screening, general eye exams, prostate cancer screening, and breast exams. Lab services include glucose testing, occult blood, TB testing, urine dipstick, hemoglobin, beta-hCG, and microscopic services. Necessary blood work is performed at a discounted rate by the Detroit Medical Center and diagnostic imaging is done at a fifty percent rate at Basha Diagnostics.

The clinic depends on donations, both financial and in-kind, grants and the sponsorship of corporate partners Blue Cross and Bue Shield, the Michigan Department of Community Health, the Michigan State Medical Society, Muslim Physicians of Greater Detroit and the Islamic Shura Council of Michigan.

The clinic also provides social services and health education for the prevention of disease and promotion of good health.

The clinic is not set up to handle emergencies or to provide maternal or pediatric care. It does give flu shots.

The clinic is located at 1605 Davison Avenue in Detroit. It can be reached at 313.865.8446.