–Seeking financial assistance, Jordan awaits smooth transition of govt for his liver transplant
LAHORE: Three-year-old Jordan Khalid is struggling for life in Punjab Children’s Hospital in Lahore and cannot be released from the health centre until he has his liver transplanted. The Punjab Chief Minister’s Financial Assistance Department received an approval of his case but now the family is waiting for the new government to be formed to release the funds.
A year ago, Jordan’s mother brought him to human rights activist Khalid Shahzad and asked that she wanted to give the child to a church because she was unable to take care of him due to severe poverty. Khalid and his wife run Dorothea Centre for Special Children in the suburbs of Lahore where special children of all faiths are treated as one of their own.
Khalid adopted the child and named him Jordan Khalid. His children immediately accepted Jordan as family. He was already suffering a few ailments because he did not receive good care since his birth. But Shahzad’s family took care of him with all possible means.
Early this year, Jordan was diagnosed with liver dysfunction and needed an urgent liver transplant. At Khalid’s request, the Chief Minister’s Financial Assistance Department had a medical board constituted which ascertained the urgent need for a liver transplant. Then the department requested the office of Lahore commissioner to ascertain if Khalid qualified to receive the assistance. The office of Lahore commissioner conducted an inquiry and wrote back to the Punjab Chief Minister’s Financial Assistance director in May that Khalid Shahzad could not afford the expensive treatment so assistance be released.
Jordan’s financial assistance currently case lies in limbo. When will the new government be formed? Will it release the funds approved for Jordan? Will the Chief Minister’s Financial Assistance programme even remain intact after the new political party comes into power? These questions have been haunting Jordan and his family since the July 25 general elections.
A smooth transition of the government is a need of the hour not only for Pakistan’s democracy but also for many struggling Jordans in the country.
