SAIRA BANO
KARACHI: Disability due to an accident can add to the miseries of a person if he is the sole financial provider for a family.
Mohammad Shahid, 41-years-old, was a cardboard collector with a small warehouse in New Karachi. Shahid led a normal life until he met with an accident which disabled him and the situation got worst due to diabetes.
He stopped working since his work required strenuous physical labour. The disease, surgery and resultant unemployment were traumatic for him and his family. He contacted a few medical care facilities for getting a prosthetic limb but he was unable to afford the expenses. For three long years, he tried to get some help but it was to no avail
As the saying goes, every cloud has a silver lining, Shahid found out about the Indus Hospital’s rehabilitation centre. He came to the Indus Hospital and went through a prosthetic limb surgery and after a few training sessions, he was able to walk again.
Though with some difficulty, now Shahid is able to earn a living again. This is not just a story of a single man, in Pakistan, a large number of patients lose their limbs to diabetes each year.
The Indus Hospital’s Physical Rehabilitation Centre serves as a ray of hope for all those who are struggling to walk again due to any defects or amputations in the limbs.
The Indus Hospital’s Physical Rehabilitation Centre was established in April 2015 and since then it has treated 1,381 patients so far. The process starts at the Filter Clinic where the patients get registered and after the initial screening and lab tests, the patients are sent to the rehabilitation centre.
A three-member team assesses them at the centre and after a complete examination, carries out the surgery and train the patients until the patients are able to walk again.
A prosthetic limb costs around 70,000 rupees but Indus Hospital does not charge a single rupee. The hospital does not discriminate on the basis of religion, cast or creed. All patients are either treated through Zakat or donations.
Since government hospitals are lacking quality services and private hospitals charge hefty amounts, therefore, most of the patients go to the Indus Hospital.
The facility which started in 2007 from 150 beds has transformed into a huge network and reaching out to masses across the country. Currently, The Indus Health Network (TIHN) has seven hospitals within its network: Shahbaz Sharif General Hospital, Lahore; Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital, Muzaffargarh; Al-Ghazi Trust Campus, Bhong, Rahimyar Khan; District Headquarter Hospital, Badin; The Indus Hospital, Karachi; Sheikh Saeed Memorial Hospital, Karachi; and Al-Faqir Trust Campus, Karachi.
TIHN spends more than 320 million rupees to treat more than 145,000 patients on a monthly basis. By 2024, The Indus Hospital will increase its capacity by 1800 beds.