KARACHI: Effective drive against child abuse urged
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, March 30: Speakers at a seminar held on Thursday stressed the need for launching an effective mass awareness campaign against all forms of abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation of children in society.
They were of the view that despite the fact that a child was an important segment of the population, it had been denied due status by the family, society and other caretakers.
They argued that today’s child was not only the victim of family and society but also of the state, saying that the issue being multi-dimensional in character needed serious consideration by all caretakers.
The seminar was organized by the Child Protection Committee established at the Lyari General Hospital (LGH) with the collaboration of Konpal – Child Abuse Prevention Society.
It was chaired by the LGH Medical Superintendent, Dr Khwaja Mukhtiar Ahmed, while key speakers were Konpal’s Dr Aisha Mehnaz, Dr Farah Iqbal, LGH psychiatrist Dr Ishaq Sirrandi and social worker Sher Mohammad Raees.
The speakers urged the need to involve parents, community leaders, health providers and law enforcement authorities to play active roles in prevention of child abuse and to provide help in rehabilitating the child.
A case study of a nine-year old madressah student was considered. She was being regularly beaten by her uncle and was admitted to hospital a few weeks ago because she was suffering from fever and chest pain.
Investigations revealed that she had no any physical complaints. The cause of the disease was psychological. Subsequently, the family was contacted.
The mother of the child told the counselling team of Konpal that after the death of her father, the child was looked after by her uncle who sent her to a madressah. She was beaten there too.
Consequently, she started living in constant fear and terror. The case study also showed that the seven-member family lived in abject poverty.
The Konpal team took up the issue, and with the support of the victim’s mother, the doctors counselling team and a social worker, the child has been rehabilitated.
Dr Mehnaz said there were hundreds of cases which could be tackled with the joint efforts of all child caretakers.
Earlier, LGH Medical Superintendent Dr Khwaja Mukhtiar Ahmed welcomed the participants of the seminar. He emphasized the need for launching a mass awareness programme about child abuse at the community level.
He said there should be regular interaction between the hospital’s counselling team and the community, and added that his administration would extend full support to making the campaign successful.
