KASUR, March 23: Alarming ratio of disabled children in some villages located in the radius of a few kilometres in Kasur district has made the life of the suffering children and their families miserable, but no one has reached out to them to find as to what has gone wrong in this small area.

The problem is acute in Keema Basti, Ratnaiwala, Chabar Chowk, Chhota Bun, Jodh Singhwala, Chabail, Sheikh Hamad Kohna and Choriwala localities.

The residents of Keema Basti located on Zero Line on the Pakistan-India border say their children have never been vaccinated against polio. At Keema Basti, which consists of 10 houses, three children of a family are suffering from an undiagnosed disease. Bushra (13), Salamat (9) and Samina (18) are bedridden after their first birthday. Ashraf died of the same disease some years ago at the age of 14. Bushra, Salamat and Samina are unable to move any of their limbs. They have undeveloped bodies with their legs and arms dried. Their mother says she cannot take her children to any health facility because of abject poverty.

Beena (18), a resident of Ratnaiwala village, has been suffering from mental disorder for the last 10 years, but she has never been taken to a doctor. Now she can be seen roaming in the village streets.

Saba (7), a resident of Ratnaiwala village, is vision, hearing and speech impaired since her birth. Imran (15) of the same village was paralysed at the age of two. Imran’s sister Naseem (23) caught the same disease when she was 10. Rukhsana (9) of the same village was paralysed when she was two.

Nasreen (19), a resident of Sheikh Hamad Kohna village, is suffering from a mental disorder since her birth. She was married to Ramzan, a polio affected man of Chabar Chowk locality.

Ali Akbar (7) fell prey to an unidentified disease at the age of four and is now on crutches. Rani (20), a resident of Chhota Bun locality, was paralysed at the age of four. Sumaira (13), a resident of Chabbar village, suffered a polio attack when she was just six months old and now her both legs are completely immobile. Brothers Muhammad Arif (28), Muhammad Javid (25) and Muhammad Iqbal (23), residents of Jodh Singhwala village, were paralysed when they were in their early 20s. Now they walk on their knees.

Ratnaiwala residents Faisal Nawaz (14) was disabled at the age of six and Ahmed Ali (7) was paralysed when he was one, but their parents did not take them to any qualified health practitioner. However, they wasted a lot of money on quacks and faith healers hired for these children’s treatment.

Kausar (16), a resident of Chabail village, was on crutches since she was eight and even doctors failed to diagnose her disease.

Lali (15), a resident of Choriwala village, was suffering from mental disorder since his childhood. Muhammad Ali and Rafiq also fell prey to an unidentified disease at the age of one.

Water released by various tanneries passes by these plagued villages. As a result, the subsoil water of most of these villages is unfit for human consumption. Kasur Executive District Officer for Health Dr Saeedullah Khan said iodine deficiency, contaminated water, prevailing unhygienic conditions and congenital problems could be the reasons for this alarming proportion of suffering in these villages.

He, however, said a scientific survey was required to find out the causes of crippling diseases in these villages. Khan said no child was left out during the anti-polio campaign in the district. He said he would form a team of senior doctors to look into this serious problem.