Friendship Beyond Borders

We were at a press conference with the Ambassador of India H.E. Sanjay Kumar Verma. In the middle of the meeting the Ambassador received a call on his mobile and we all asked him to take the call. But he didn’t saying that the call was from the Pakistani Ambassador who was his great friend and would understand that he is busy. We raised our eyebrows especially the Sudanese journalists. He then shared an anecdote which happened on a flight to Port Sudan. Ambassador Verma was sitting next to the Pakistani Ambassador H.E. Mohammad Sarfraz A.Khanzada. They kept talking to each other in Urdu language, which is spoken in both the countries. This was noticed by an Ambassador of another Asian country in the same flight. He couldn’t control himself and asked both of them what the hell is happening. Later Ambassador Verma remarked that if you remove politics, people of India and Pakistan are the same lot. “We participate in marriages, Bollywood, food, language and everywhere. Unfortunately the divide is based only on religion. India has 170 million Muslims which is a large number and India is a secular country.” Ambassador Verma also added that the new Government of India looks like will improve the relations between the two countries.

Sales Promotion Often Confuses Consumers

As Philip Kotler says ‘Sales Promotion’ comprises a wide variety of tactical promotional tools of short-term incentive nature designed to stimulate earlier and / or stronger market response. These tools may be consumer promotion, trade promotion, and sales-force promotion. Sales promotion are of two distinctive qualities: a) Insistent presence – which are attention getting, sometimes urgent, quality that can break through habits of buyer inertia towards a particular product. b) Product demeaning – some tools suggest that the seller is anxious for the sale. If they are used to frequently or carelessly they may lead buyers to wonder whether the brand is desirable or reasonably priced.

Well, here is case study of edible oil. I switched over from corn oil to sunflower oil to take care of my heart and cholesterol. Thus started buying the larger pack (1 litres or 1.8 litres) of sunflower oil for the family. One fine morning I found the 2 lts pack of corn oil being sold with a free small pack of sunflower oil. This has kept me wondering  whether this Sales Promotion is intended to initiate the habit of sunflower oil or to get rid of its smaller pack or to attract consumers to switch over to corn oil after consuming the small pack of sunflower oil. Surprisingly the big pack of sunflower oil is also available stand alone. There certainly is no proper plan and communication on this Sales Promotion which leaves consumers confused.

President opens new facilities in Ahmed Gasim Hospital

On the Independence Day of the Republic of Sudan, President Omer Hassan al-Bashir ceremoniously opened the New Building for the Cath Lab in Ahmed Gasim Hospital in Khartoum North. Along with the President were Governor of Khartoum State Dr. Abdelrahman Al-Khidir, Khartoum State Health Minister Prof. Mamoun Homeida, other dignitaries and consultant cardiologists. General Manager of Ahmed Gasim Hospital Dr.Huda Hamid Mohamed ElHassan said in her speech that the long waiting for two cath labs in the new building has been answered today. The hospital has many consultant cardiologists but they were unable to treat patients properly for last 2 years because the old cath lab was not working properly. The new building which was inaugurated by President Omer Al-Bashir has 2 cath labs, 2 operation theatres and 18 private rooms. The hospital is now equipped to perform 350 coronary angiographies, 35 to 45 open heart surgeries, 20 renal transplant surgeries in a month. The hospital, she said is not only concerned with the quantity of surgeries but also the quality of service provided silently by the group of qualified and trained medical team. 60-70% of the patients who come for treatment to the hospital are from outside Khartoum state. Dr.Huda thanked Prof. Mamoun Homeida for the trust bestowed on her with the responsibility of the hospital.

Dr.Huda also added that she and her team in Ahmed Gasim hospital are working with a goal to save the cost of travel and treatment of patients who go abroad and now can be treated in their own hospital.

A Milestone for Gastroenterology in Sudan

Former President of World Gastroenterology Organization Prof. Eamonn M. Quigley flew down from Houston, Texas to endorse the Khartoum Training Centre at Mohamed Salih Idris Emergency GIT Bleeding Centre at Ibn Sina hospital in Khartoum on 10^th Jan’15. This training centre is the pride of Sudan because it is the first centre in Africa for excellent training in gastrointestinal endoscopy, surgery and treatment of gastrointestinal disorders which often when left untreated lead to cancer. Moreover one of the goals of this WGO Khartoum Training Centre is to initiate liver transplant surgery in Sudan within a year or two.

This centre is a collaboration between private sponsors like Mohamed Salih Idris and the Ministry of Health of the Government of Sudan and foreign contributors like the Japanese Government and Swedish Government. Among the foreign dignitaries present at the opening of the centre were Ambassador of Japan Hideki Ito, Professor of Surgery from Stockholm, Sweden Prof. Ake Aandren-Sanberg, Prof Ibrahim Mustafa, Liver Transplant Surgeon from Cairo and Prof.Quigley from USA. Other dignitaries present at the opening of the centre were Dr.Isameldin Mohammed Abdalla Undersecretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Prof. Mamoun Homeida Khartoum State Minister of Health, Prof.Suleiman Salih Fedail , recipient of Masters of World Gastroenterology Organization and who put the name of Sudan in the world map of Gastroenterology and the benevolent businessman Mohamed Salih Idris. Everyone Congratulated Dr. Abdelmounem Eltayeb Abdo for his tireless efforts in setting up the standard of the training centre which today is endorsed as World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO) Khartoum Training Centre.

Expressions of the Prez

I had the opportunity to observe the President of the Republic of Sudan for one full hour. I clicked a few facial expressions of President Omar Al-Bashir on 1st January 2015, 59th Independence Day of Sudan.

Namaste Ibrahim

I walked fast to catch up with him. He was busy talking on his cell phone. But once he saw me he greeted me saying Namaste. It was a pleasant surprise. Later I leant from him that he had worked in a factory with Indians for nine years in Bageir on Madani road in the outskirts of Khartoum. Ibrahim is from Darfur but he has not gone back to Darfur since 2005.

Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Day in Khartoum

 “We the General Secretariat of Council of Ministers appreciating your honesty for the opportunity to gain knowledge and advice on various sciences to our employees for grant program of 2013-14 and this shows the sincerity and durability of the relationship between Sudan and India Government and people”- Dr. Omer Mohamed Salih – Secretary of the Cabinet. This is what was inscribed in a beautiful crystal plaque as ‘Acknowledgement’ and awarded to the Ambassador of India to Sudan H.E. Sanjay Kumar Verma by Ibrahim Ahmed Adam on behalf of the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs. This was on the evening of 29^th December at Indian Ambassador’s residence where more than 200 people gathered to celebrate Golden Jubilee of ITEC. Most of the invitees were Sudanese nationals who have participated in the ITEC programme.

Every year, approximately 250 short-term courses, up to one year, are offered to the Sudanese nationals, resident in Sudan helping them in upgrading their skills and knowledge. The ITEC programme is fully funded by the Government of India and has six components 1) Training (civilian and defence) in India of nominees from ITEC partner countries 2) Projects and project related activities such as feasibility studies and consultancy services 3) Deputation of Indian experts abroad 4) Study Tours 5) Gifting/Donation of equipment and 6) Aid for Disaster Relief.

Ambassador Adil Ibrahim Mustafa, Director of Asian Affairs of Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke on the occasion and rated India as one of the highest contributors to Sudan in the oil sector, electricity generation, capacity building and human resources development.

Ambassador Verma appreciated the overwhelming utilization of ITEC scholarships by Sudanese nationals. He also spoke of the various ongoing capacity building projects in Sudan like the Center for English Language Training in Khartoum and Vocational Training Centre at Ad Damar. While congratulating the ITEC participants he urged them to network with each other both in person and through social media. He also asked them to keep visiting the website of the Embassy of India regularly for announcements on capacity building in Sudan and in India. “Sudan should take advantage of the opportunities in India especially in education, health, trade and investment sectors” said the Indian Ambassador S.K.Verma