City mosque extends free gym service for women

Previously a Hyderabad-based NGO called Helping hands foundation (HHF) has launched community healthcare at a mosque in Rajendranagar to provide medical care to women and children in the slums.

Now the mosque began free gymnasium device merged with a wellness centre for women residing in the nearby slum areas. This initiative is one-of-its-kind to have a mosque amalgamated with a gym for women with expert trainers.

The mission of the mosque management behind the gym and wellness centre is to raise awareness among women. It focuses to diminish the incidence of non-communicable diseases in underprivileged and lower-middle-class young women.

A professional woman trainer has been roped in to provide physical exercises and fitness in two sessions daily for the weight loss programme. The health counsellors and a physician are also made available for it. Many women expressed gratitude as they are not well versed with fitness because it has been a taboo so far.

The gym at Masjid-e-Mustafa located in Wadi-e-Mahmood in Rajendranagar is aided by SEED, a US-based NGO. Helping Hand Foundation (HHF), a city-based NGO collaborated with the mosque committee in operating the wellness centre.

After analysing the survey conducted in old city slums, the gym revealed that 52% women are more vulnerable to the cardiometabolic syndrome. “The key components of the NCD programme at the mosque clinic-cum-gym are risk assessment, counselling on diet and exercise and screening for renal, liver and eye issues”, stated HHF managing trustee Mujtaba Hasan Askari.