PM programme to include facilities for specially-abled

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has taken a major step by including disabilities as a part of its Prime Minister’s National Programme.

The new addition includes access to facilities and assisstive products to all beneficiaries of the programme who need them.

This includes wheel chairs, crutches, white canes, tripod, quadruped’s sticks and hearing aids. This was said by Federal Minister National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar  She said at Regional Inter-Country Consultative Meeting on Improving Access to Assistive Technology in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, in Islamabad. The meeting is taking place from May 8 to 10 hosted by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSR&C) and World Health Organisation (WHO).

“Access to assistive technology is as important as access to other modern tools we use in our daily life,” she said. Without assistive technology, people in need are often excluded, isolated and locked into poverty, and the burden of disability increases.

Availability of assistive technology should be an essential component of universal health coverage.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2018.