KARACHI, Nov 22: Five children suffering from burn injuries are being taken by a US-based charity organisation to the US for treatment on Thursday night.

This was announced by Dr Feroz Ismail of the Healthcare and Social Welfare Association and Capt Robert Ing and Ghulam Bombaywala of the House of Charity of Texas (USA) at a press conference at the Press Club on Thursday.

The following children are being sent to the US: Nazish, Tauseef Bibi, Nabiha, Pankat and Osama. Their names were forwarded by the Lahore-based Shalimar Hospital and selected by the House of Charity. Sister Arsala Shaheen of the Shalimar Hospital is also accompanying the burn victims to the US.

The other five children — Saqlian Hussain, Sajida Safdar, Faheem Shah, Khurrum Mukhtar and Hareeb Shahid — who were earlier taken to the United States in May by the same organization and had returned after treatment were also present at the Press Club.

The speakers said that these five children who had received treatment had been the victims of accidental burns and had deformities all over their bodies.

The speakers said that many complicated surgeries had been carried out on these children at Shriners Hospital in Galveston, Texas, which was one of the leading hospitals for children with burn injuries. They said the treatment would have otherwise cost $1 million.

They said since the hospital and the doctors carrying out surgeries and treatment had not charged their full fee, and in certain cases even provided free services, and the children, when not in hospital, had stayed at homes of Pakistanis settled there, the total expenses had just been around 10 per cent of the actual cost of $1 million.

They said that Faheem, Sajida and Saqlain had undergone four surgeries each while Khurrum had been provided a prosthesis and his eyesight had been restored while Hareeb had been treated by pressure garments.

They said that the first phase of the treatment of these children had completed and after a couple of years they would again be taken to the US for the second phase of their treatment and checkup as and when required. They said that so far eight children, including these five, had received treatment at the US, and five others were leaving on Thursday night, bringing the total number of this year’s beneficiaries to 13.

They said that 11 more children had been selected by the House of Charity and would be sent to the United States next year.