LAHORE, Sept 25: An NGO has appealed to philanthropists to donate generously to provide artificial legs to five members of a family who have lost their legs to a mystery disease.

Sufi Abdur Rehman Naqshbandi, a prayer leader, told HOPE, a rehabilitation centre, that his five children had fallen a victim to a mystery disease that affected their legs so badly that these had to be amputated. The ill-fated children were Usman, 38, Abubakar, 18, Shakeela, 18, Ali, 16 and Nabila, 10.

The prayer leader, who lives in Wagah’s Sarhadi village, said he had spent all his money on the treatment of his children. He said Nabila and Shakeela got their fingers infected. He feared their amputation too. Besides these five, he said he had four more children and they might contract the disease.

HOPE’s Dr Khalid Niazi told Dawn that without thorough medical tests, the cause of the disease could not be ascertained.

Dr Niazi said provision of artificial legs to the children would cost at least Rs300,000. He urged philanthropists to come forward and send donations to the MCB’s Shadman branch account 1998-1. — Staff Reporter