Dil Jan Foundation provides healthcare, social services in Lakki Marwat
PESHAWAR: Despite his old age, Dil Jan Khan has found a new purpose in life after serving on high positions in the service of the government of Pakistan.
“I feel happy doing social work. It is good for one’s health,” he remarked while talking to The News.
The 83-year old retired cop and bureaucrat set up the Dil Jan Foundation in 2006 to provide healthcare and education to the needy people. It aims at improving the quality of life in under-developed areas of his native Lakki Marwat district.
Dil Jan Khan, who is from the Police Service of Pakistan, retired as federal secretary to the government after earlier serving as Inspector General of Police.
He also served as senior vice-president of the International Narcotics Control Board and honorary advisor to the ministry of interior.
He didn’t enter politics even though his brother Mashal Khan had been Member of Provincial Assembly. Instead he opted for philanthropy and charity work.
The first thing Dil Jan Khan did was to donate land in Begukhel village in Lakki Marwat to build a Basic Health Unit.
The construction cost almost Rs3.5 million. More than 50,000 patients have been examined and treated at the unit to-date.
“Initially, our doctor and other staff used to see patients once in a week, but due to the demand by residents of eight adjoining villages the medical check-up facility was extended to two, then three and even four days a week. We were getting more patients than the government-run Rural Health Centre and Basic Health Unit as these were in a poor condition,” Dil Jan Khan explained.
He said most patients, almost 70 percent, were females. “You know women in our conservative society don’t get the required treatment due to cultural constraints. Older women formed the bulk of our patients,” he pointed out.
According to Dil Jan Khan, the suicide bombing at a volleyball match in Shah Hassankhel village located near Begukhel in which more than 120 persons were killed prompted him to devote attention to the widows and the orphans.
He said the Dil Jan Foundation started giving financial assistance to the widows and the orphans from its own funds and by collecting donations.
The foundation has also been providing treatment and rehabilitation services to the disabled.
“We have arranged more than 30 wheel-chairs for the disabled. Neurologist Dr Mazhar Badshah at the PIMS Islamabad has been a major source of help to our patients,” Dil Jan Khan noted. “It gave me so much
happiness to see a disabled patient walk again after getting treatment at the Ziaul Haq Hospital, Rawalpindi,” he recalled.
The foundation also gave stipends to poor and talented students who would have dropped out without financial assistance. He said about 11 students are being helped to continue their studies.
He recalled that President Mamnoon Hussain and former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan extended financial help to the Dil Jan Foundation. “The Hashwani Foundation gave us an ambulance. There were other donors also,” he added.
Dil Jan Khan said initially he spent his own money and sold his plot of land in Abbottabad for Rs8 million to run the foundation. “Some friends and well-wishers then gave donations to enable us to extend our services. Pharmaceutical firms helped us with medicines,” he said.
However, the Dil Jan Foundation needs help to buy X-ray and ultra-sound machines for its Basic Health Unit and organize more medical camps in the area. It also required funds to implement its other plans for public welfare.
Operating from the foundation’s head office in Islamabad where he lives, Dil Jan Khan said it was a one-man show initially but now young men from his Marwat tribe in Lakki Marwat were giving him a helping hand. “I enjoy doing this kind of work. Helping others makes me happy,” he remarked.
