Indus Hospital to provide 1,500 prosthetic limbs every year

KARACHI:

The Indus Hospital has added another service to its many free-of-charge facilities — the Physical Rehabilitation Centre.

The service is a collaboration between the hospital, the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and Chal Foundation. Together, they will have the capacity to provide 1,500 prosthetic limbs every year. While speaking at the inauguration ceremony on Friday, hospital chairperson Siddique Sheikh said that physical rehabilitation was vital as it benefits them on a personal level and the society at large. He added that, apart from regaining self-esteem and vocational training, it did wonders for those who had been rehabilitated.

According to ICRC delegation head Reto Stocker, this rehabilitation programme was part of an ICRC project for a violence inflicted city like Karachi. He said that 160 ICRC centres were working in 48 countries around the globe. He added that the aim of these centres was to ease social integration for the disabled.

“A supply chain for components and materials will also be provided,” he said. “The programme in Karachi is part of our twin facility in Muzaffargarh that already has 250 people registered — out of this 85 per cent are amputees.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 21^st, 2015.