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DUHS to prepare artificial limbs
Karachi, Jan 25, 2008: In order to provide artificial limbs to disabled persons on
permanent basis, the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) has set up 'School
of Prosthesis and Orthosis' recently. It is the first such school in Sindh and
second in the country where students would be trained for four years to prepare
artificial limbs, said Vice Chancellor, DUHS, Prof. Masood Hameed Khan on
Thursday.
Dow University Artificial Limbs centre (Dual) set up in August
2007 has provided artificial limbs to 466 people so far, while 250 more are in
process of getting the same. While talking at his office, Khan said
that the DUHS was in the planning stage for setting up such a centre, when
Jaipur Foot Society along with the Rotary Club, Karachi and HASWA Foundation
extended their support for this purpose.
The school set up on January 14
will train 25 students in its first batch, said Director Institute of Physical
Medicines and Rehabilitation, Dr Nabila Soomro. She said as it is a "new field",
therefore around 50 per cent students of the first batch would be trained by
Canadian experts to make artificial limbs of an international standard while the
rest would be trained by experts from Pakistan Institute of Prosthesis and
Orthosis Sciences, Peshawar, which is the first such centre in the country set
up with the assistance of Germany 25 years back.
Soomro further said that
the Jaipur society voluntarily made limbs and wanted to transfer this technology
here but after visiting Peshawar, "we realised that we have better technology
than India." She pointed out that a Canadian expert recently visited the centre
in this regard as well.
Moreover, she said that the DUHS has also started
to train occupational therapists (OT) while Malaysian Prof. Nathan Vytialiangam
was already here to develop the curriculum. Vytialiangam, former vice president
of the 'World Federation of Occupational Therapists' said that it would
be a four-year course in which students would be trained to make special people
"functionally independent." He said as there is not enough teaching and chemical
material, he would train students for three weeks. He also suggested that there
is a "big need" to set up such institutes as not only physical but mental
disability among children, adults and old people is on the rise. Furthermore,
economic problems have also made lives of people stressful, which would
ultimately affect the social structure. Besides this, natural disasters such as
the earthquakes in Pakistan also enhance the importance of establishing
rehabilitation centres.
Dr Imran Ahmed, first male physiotherapist in the
city said that around 10 to 11 disabled people visit Dual daily and
approximately 380 people have applied for artificial limbs. Quoting a few
examples of the patients, Ahmed said that recently a two-year old boy who was
disabled by birth was brought there. "Being a very difficult case, we suggested
the parents bring him back when he a gets little older." Another patient was an
11-year-old disabled seminary student whose legs were amputated when a container
overturned and fell on him in the city while he was on his way to the madrassa. The News
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