Father seeks treatment for his paralysed children

KASUR: Five children of a factory worker have been suffering from a mysterious disease that has left them all paralysed.

Babliyan Ottar village resident from Kot Radha Kishan, Lal Din said that his five children, aged between 6-14 years had been suffering from a mysterious disease for several years. He said that the children all suffered from a brand of paralysis. “My elder children developed the disease when they were toddlers but the younger three all contracted the disease four years ago,” Din said.  Din said that he had spent every penny at his disposal to seek medical treatment for the children. “I have very little but I have taken them to every doctor and pir I can find but nothing has made a difference,” he said.

According to DHQ Hospital Dr Moeenuddin, the consumption of contaminated water is believed to be the most likely cause of the disease. “All five children appear to have developed a metabolic bone disorder and the most likely cause is the contaminated water near their village,” he said. The hospital, however, lacks facilities to diagnose such diseases and the doctors have referred the siblings to Jinnah Hospital in Lahore.

Din, who lives nearly 25 kilometres away from Kasur, said that he had also taken his children, six-year-old Shehnaz, seven-year-old Ayaz, nine-year-old Ijaz, 11-year-old Rehana and 14- year-old Shehbaz to a local pir. “People told me to take them to a healer but when I did, the man said the reason my children had the disease was because we were Hindu,” Din said.  Din has repeatedly contacted faith healers, quacks and private doctors to get his children treated but no one has been able to diagnose the children accurately.

Din said that when he took his children to the DHQ Hospital doctors told him that they didn’t have the facilities to treat children with such severe paralysis and that he should go to Jinnah Hospital in Lahore if he wanted a proper diagnose of the disease. “I can’t afford to take my children to Lahore, the treatment and commute costs more than what it takes me to feed my family for two weeks,” he said.

Din said that several other children in his village suffered from similar bone diseases. He said that there were several factories in the vicinity of his village and each was responsible for discharging harmful chemicals, including fluorine, which had contaminated the underground water.

Dr Qamar Irshad, a DHQ Hospital paediatrician, said the children were being referred to Lahore for a thorough medical check up and proper treatment. Dr Irshad said that the cause of the disease was possibly the areas water. “We have seen several cases of bone disorders in this area, I am not sure if it is linked to the water supply but that is definitely a contributing factor,” he said. Dr Irshad said that only proper investigation by orthopaedic surgeons could help Din’s children.

Lal Din has appealed to the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, philanthropists and non-government organisations to help him pay for the treatment of his children while in Lahore.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 6^th, 2010.