CM approves cochlear implants for children
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has formally approved free treatment for children suffering from cochlear disorders.
Chairing a meeting in this regard, he said that the cognitive learning abilities are of paramount importance among children and the provincial government will go all out in helping children suffering from these diseases.
A total of 127 requests have been received through ‘Khpal Wazir Ala Cell’ and other welfare organizations from 25 districts of the province for the treatment of children.
Nine requests have also been received from the merged districts including Orakzai, Bajaur, Kurram and Khyber.
The treatment will be completed at a total cost of Rs250 million and will be carried out in three phases as approved by the chief minister.
In the first phase, 38 children belonging to flood hit districts of Charsadda, DI Khan, Shangla and Swat will be prioritized whereas in the second phase, families having three or more children with cochlear diseases will be provided free treatment.
The remaining cases will be treated in the third phase.
The chief minister directed that families should be informed phase-wise in order to ensure prior preparedness, adding that youngest children should be prioritized in order to ensure that their cognitive learning abilities are restored on priority basis.
The chief minister said that hearing ability is directly linked with cognitive learning and any disorder directly affects the overall learning process among children.
He added that immediate treatment of children suffering from this disease is of paramount importance in order to enable them to live a complete, healthy and useful life.
Touching upon the priority initiatives taken by his government in the health sector, Khan said that the provincial government is not only aware of the problems faced by people in the health sector but has also taken multiple steps to provide quality and free healthcare to its citizens.
The chief minister said that extension of Sehat Insaf Card to cent per cent population of the province is undoubtedly an unprecedented effort of his government under which millions of people across the province have been provided with free treatment facilities so far.
Apart from this, significant resources are being spent on revamping the hospitals and healthcare centers in the province in order to provide best treatment facilities to people at their doorsteps.
Principal Secretary to CM Amjad Ali Khan, administrative secretaries of Health & Finance Departments and other officials attended the meeting.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2022.