KARACHI, Nov 12: There are 25,670 registered leprosy patients in the city, which make 40 to 50 per cent of the total number of such patients in the country, and the number is increasing by 800 every year.
These alarming facts were revealed at a meeting held under the City Nazim, Naimatullah Khan, at Civic Centre on Friday to review the state of leprosy and that of the patients afflicted with it.
The meeting was attended by Dr Ruth Pfau of the Merie Adelaide Leprosy Centre, Dr Ashfaq Ali Khan, Dr Shahid Zafar, chairman community, Kazi Sadruddin, medical superintendent, Leprosy Hospital of the city government, Dr Mohammed Ali Abbasi, and other officials.
The meeting was informed that there were 50,000 leprosy patients in the country, and 40 to 50 per cent belong to Karachi. The city nazim said leprosy was a treatable disease, but effective planning was needed to create its awareness among the people, and to provide them with treatment to control the ailment in the future.
Mr Khan set up a five-member committee for protection against leprosy and to collect reliable data on the exact number of leprosy patients and other related matters. Dr Ruth Pfau will be the convener of the committee, while its other members will include Dr Mohammed Ali Abbasi, Dr Ashfaq Ali Khan, Dr Nasir Javed and Kazi Sadruddin. The committee will submit its report to the city nazim in one month.
Eid gifts: Naimatullah Khan on Friday distributed Eid gifts to the employees of the City Nazim Secretariat. The nazim, speaking on the occasion, said he did not draw a single penny from the city government funds for gifts for the employees of the CDGK, but a City Nazim Welfare Fund had been set up for the purpose, for which philanthropists gave donations.
"We have distributed sewing machines to poor women, dowry to girls and pushcarts and commodities to the jobless from City Nazim Fund during the month of Ramazan," he added.
Media advisor to the nazim, Ansar Razi, chairperson, Education Committee, Rehana Afroze, administrator, City Nazim Welfare Fund, Abdul Rasheed Baig, Shehla Inayatullah, Sajeela Mehar and Nazeer Mateen were also present on the occasion.
Meanwhile, speaking at ration and clothes distribution ceremony at UC-10, Liaquatabad Town, the city nazim said that helping the poor in the name of Almighty Allah enabled them to share the joys of Eid.
Town Nazim Liaquatabad Dr. Pervaiz Mehmood, UC-10 Nazim Abid Ilyas, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman also addressed on the occasion. Dr Pervaiz Mehmood, lauding the services of the nazim said that the next CDGK leadership should have the same spirit.
The UC-10 Nazim, Abid Ilays, said record development works had been done during the last three years, which improved the city's infrastructure and benefited its people.
Probe ordered: City Nazim Naimatullah Khan has ordered an inquiry into the incident of alleged mistreatment of the Gulshan-i-Iqbal College Principal, Mah Jabeen Shaheryar, by some Teacher's Forum members.
In this regard, the city nazim set up an inquiry committee headed by EDO, Higher Education, comprising Prof Anis Zaidi, Prof Riaz Rabbani and nazim's advisor on Education, Naseem Siddiqi.
The principal had complained about the incident through an application to district officer, Education, with a copy to the city nazim. In her application, she had alleged that Mohammed Anis, Javed Shaikh, Hafiz Nasim of the Teachers' Forum, along with four outsiders, came to her office, misbehaved with her and extended threats.
The intruders demanded that the college's gate should be kept open all the time, and no one, including the members of the forum, should be barred from entering the college premises, and that the college laboratory should be closed and converted into a rest room for teachers, Ms Shaheryar added. -APP/PPI