KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Saturday announced that the budget of the department of empowerment of persons with disabilities (DEPD) would be increased from Rs800 million to Rs1.7 billion in the next budget.
While inaugurating the Center for Autism Rehabilitation and Training (C-ART) & Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at Korangi, he said that major projects to be constructed include construction of 17 new special education & rehabilitation centres and reconstruction/rehabilitation of 13 existing centres.
Mr Shah appreciated C-ARTS and said that it was now providing services to over 300 individuals with autism free of cost.
He said that the trait that made C-ARTS unique was that they provide all the services required by children with autism under one roof.
“While children are the main focus of C-ARTS, they do provide training to the parents also, as autism ultimately doesn’t happen to an individual, it happens to a family and requires the full support of all the child caregivers,” he said.
The CM said that the C-ARTS Adult and ADHD Center would train over 150 individuals with Autism for employment so that they become contributing members of the society.
The ceremony was attended by Manzoor Wassan, provincial ministers Sharjeel Memon, Shahela Raza, Sadiq Memon, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput and others.
Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2022
