TIMERGARA: Medical experts said at a training workshop here on Sunday that club foot deformity in children could be easily cured, but very few people knew about its treatment.

The workshop on ‘club foot – an inborn defect in children’s foot and its treatment’ was arranged by the orthopaedic unit of DHQ hospital, Timergara. Doctors from Peshawar, Abbottabad, Swat and Mardan also attended the workshop.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Dr Sikandar Hayat and Dr Saalik Kashif from Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Dr Fayez Ali Shah of Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, paediatric orthopaedic surgeon at Charsadda DHQ hospital Dr Abbas Ali and chief executive of Paraplegic Centre, Peshawar, Dr Mohammad Ilyas said that club foot was easily curable if timely treatment was provided to the children with the defected foot.

They said that a cheap treatment for club foot called Pon Sete method was used in removing the defect in children’s foot by casting plaster only. “In this kind of treatment, plaster is replaced on weekly basis and the defect is removed in four to six weeks,” they said.

The speakers called for creating awareness among the people that the defect among babies could easily be removed at the initial stage.

Dr Waqar Alam, an orthopaedic surgeon at DHQ hospital, Timergara, said that cases of club-footed children had been increasing in Lower Dir district. He said that exact causes of the disease were not known.

“Club foot clinic has been established at the DHQ hospital where cases of children with foot deformity were handled,” he said. “We have a plan to soon visit from house to house for screening of children to provide the affected ones with timely treatment,” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ilyas said that club foot clinic had been working at the Paraplegic Centre, Peshawar, where free-of-cost treatment was being provided to the children.

OFFICE-BEARERS: Qari Karimullah was elected president, Mohammad Hashim general secretary and Dost Rehman vice-president of the Roodbari Pakhtun tribe. The election was held during a meeting of the tribe at Paloso Jandol here on Sunday. The tribal elders from Dir, Bajaur and Malakand attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2019