Muslim leaders in Florida have opened a new free health clinic that will serve the poor and uninsured from all backgrounds, an initiative they hope will counter negative stereotypes about Islam, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
The “American Muslim Community Centers Clinic” (AMCC) in Longwood, Central Florida, started seeing patients this week and will only be open on Fridays.
But officials said it would grow to two or three days a week in a month, and eventually to five days a week.
AMCC’s chairman, Atif Fareed told the Orlando Sentinel: “Our goal is to serve humanity — no strings attached. Everyone is welcome.
“We have over 40 physicians who come to our mosque, and we have 11 of them signed up to volunteer here. So we are very, very blessed.”
The clinic will offer general health care to anyone in Orange, Osceola or Seminole counties who is uninsured and earning below 200 percent of the federal poverty line, which works out to be $23,760 (£19,700) a year for an individual and $48,600 ($40,400) for a family of four.
Patients can make appointments online at and Longwood Pharmacy has also agreed to fill many common prescriptions for free, Fareed said.
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Moazzam Adnan Raja, a spokesman for the clinic, said there are no official projections on how many people the clinic could end up serving but based on turnout at public health fairs the community centre has sponsored, the number would easily be in the hundreds.
Mr Raja said: “We’ll do what we can to serve as many as possible. Our mercy should not be constrained.”
Many of the Muslim doctors at the AMCC already volunteer for other non-profit healthcare clinics in Central Florida, whilst others volunteer as front desk staff and various clinic positions elsewhere.
The community centers raised $250,000 (£207,000) to buy and refurbish the building, which was a former doctor’s office. It has at least two exam rooms and space for lab work.
