LAHORE: The Punjab Police has approved cases of over 1,433 children under 10 years of age of the police employees suffering from incurable diseases to bear all the medical expenses under a special health initiative launched recently.

The department has prepared a profile of diseases they are suffering from, allocated Rs119m and initiated treatment to help improve such children’s life.

The initiative was launched when the department examined hundreds of applications of the low-grade police employees who complained that they are experiencing a painful life due to the chronic and incurable disease of their kids and they are unable to bear the expenses.

An official, who was privy to the development, says many of the kids are differently abled while others are mentally challenged and the department has approved their cases for available treatment to improve their life under the newly-launched health programme. Of them, 582 bed-ridden children are suffering from a rare disease called cerebral palsy (CP) – a group of disorders that appear in early childhood.

The official says that in the medical profession, there is no cure for cerebral palsy but early identification and treatment can improve lives of those who have this condition. The children with this condition require continuous reassessment and treatment by the health providers because as they grow old the bone and joint problems get worse and this may seriously affect the movement.

According to documents, the police department released annual sum of Rs5.8m for the mentally and physically challenged children having cerebral palsy.

Similarly, the official says, 173 children of the police employees registered under the Punjab police health programme have been diagnosed with hearing loss. Many of them experienced hearing loss at birth (congenital) and others developed it later in childhood. The department categorised the children under five and 10 for separate treatment by providing them with expensive cochlear implants. The cost incurred on each child who underwent the surgical procedures ranged from Rs2.5m to Rs3.5m.

The department signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the two private organisations and the Children Hospital Lahore. Under the MoU, the children were shifted to the health facilities where the medics carried out their audiometric assessment. These children were provided with expensive high-quality hearing aids with each device cost ranging from Rs100,000 to Rs120,000 in the market. Additionally, 20 children were shifted to the hospitals where they underwent the interventions for placement of the cochlear implants.

The price paid under the health initiative for cochlear implant and the other operation charges on each minor child ranged from Rs2.5m to Rs3.5m if done privately. As the hearing loss had gravely impacted their speech abilities, the frequent sessions of the speech therapy helped them communicate with their siblings and other family members for the first time in their life.

The department paid Rs42.3m to the hospitals for treatment under the health initiative called ‘Meray Phool’ launched by Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar. The programme also approved the cases of 152 other children suffering from thalassemia. The total stipend of Rs15,000 for the each thalassemia kid was released for treatment from the hospitals marked under the programme.

According to the official, 179 children and the adult police employees were leading miserable lives due to the disabilities related to the backbone, arms and legs. Many of them were bed-ridden due to the amputation of the leg(s) and that they were admitted to a known hospital on the Ferozepur Road where they got prosthetic limbs to improve their quality of life. For this purpose, the Punjab Police released Rs53.8m. The programme enlisted 25 children of the police employees suffering from various cardiac diseases with some of them diagnosed with ventricular septal defect (a hole in the heart) or requiring liver and kidney transplants.

The programme signed an MoU with the Lahore Children Hospital, the Pakistan Kidney & Liver Institute and some private health facilities where the children underwent the complicated heart, kidney and liver surgeries. Additionally, wheelchairs to the disabled 130 children were also provided under the same programme.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2024