The Edhi Foundation remained a ray of hope in 2017

Foundation’s ambulance services availed by 715,940 patients

KARACHI: From January 1, 2017 up until December 31, the Edhi Foundation’s three morgues in Karachi received 2,523 unidentified bodies. Of the total, 864 bodies were handed over to families after identification while the 1,659 remaining unidentified bodies were buried in the Edhi Graveyard in Mawach Goth.

According to the Edhi Foundation administration, a total of 9,219 bodies were brought in and kept at the Edhi morgues during the year. The bodies were handed over to the families following the funeral rites. Administration records at the Edhi Foundation reveal a total of 4,441 road mishaps that resulted in 850 deaths. Firing incidents in different parts of Karachi claimed 625 lives and injured 1,072 others. According to the foundation’s data, the suicide rate rose by 27% in 2017, claiming 123 lives across the city.

Tortured bodies recovered from various parts of Karachi numbered 132 while 11 people were killed and 41 others injured in 11 incidents of explosions during 2017. In all, 524 different incidents took place in the year.

As per records, 715,940 patients and bodies availed concessional ambulance services of Edhi while outstation ambulance visits numbered 15,940.



According to the administration, the dead and injured in 2,190 emergency situations were taken to hospitals in Edhi ambulances. In addition, Edhi’s marine emergency services saved 125 people and recovered 101 bodies from various beaches, streams and drains.

The Bilqees Edhi Hospital mortuary provided shrouds and baths to 6,900 bodies. The Bilqees Edhi Free Maternity Home in Moosa Lane delivered 4,596 babies free-of-charge and conducted 2,336 operations while Edhi's Free Maternity Home in Mitha Dar delivered 4,880 babies.

According to records, the Edhi centres in Moosa Lane, Mitha Dar and Sohrab Goth provided free medical treatment to 106,050 patients. Moreover, 15,455 patients availed free diagnostic tests from the laboratories of at the Bilqees Edhi Hospital.

According to the foundation’s records, the Edhi Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Sohrab Goth treated 2,190 patients in 2017, while 8,254 displaced and destitute women were admitted to the Edhi Village and Bilqees Edhi Home, of which 7,190 were sent back to their families. In addition, 190 missing children were taken in to the Edhi Child Home at Korangi and another 85 orphaned and destitute children were taken in to the Edhi Family Child Home in Clifton.