Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has sought the help of the private sector and nonprofits to set up more centres in major cities to provide special care to an estimated 100,000 children with Down syndrome in the province.
“Arranging finances is not an issue, as I’ll provide whatever money is required to establish the special centres for children with Down syndrome, but I need people who are passionate and committed to this mission because government servants generally lack such passion.”
The CM on Saturday inaugurated a learning facility launched by the Karachi Down Syndrome Programme (KDSP). He urged the KDSP to join hands with his government to expand the facilities of specialised care for children with Down syndrome.
He said his government can provide the funds for establishing the specialised care facilities but it does not have the expertise and qualified human resources to run them, for which purpose it requires the support of nonprofits like the KDSP.
The CM told the audience that partnership with the non-governmental sector is required to set up such specialised care facilities in the divisional headquarters of Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas and Shaheed Benazirabad.
He said that it is obligatory upon him that special care of world-class standard should be extended to each and every child with Down syndrome in the province, but his government cannot accomplish this massive task without the help of the NGOs concerned.
Shah said that it is necessary that specialised health care, learning and skill development facilities are provided to special children so they can lead normal, healthy lives, and be productive members of society. “Without a doubt, these children have the abilities to achieve this desired status in society.”
He said his offices are open to nonprofits like the KDSP that are fully committed to the noble humanitarian cause of rehabilitating special persons.
He appreciated that the KDSP started out by providing specialised care to only seven affected families, while they are now serving up to 2,000 children with Down syndrome.
“I want you to join hands with the government to launch such small-scale operations in other cities of Sindh to assist these special children, and later the scale of rehabilitation services will be expanded. I want these children to join the societal mainstream.”
The CM said that spending time with children with Down syndrome at the new learning facility has given him a much-needed break from his hectic routine of the past many weeks while he supervised flood relief activities in different parts of the province.
He said the visit to the special learning centre refreshed him and made him ready to continue the flood relief operation for another two to three months.
He assured the audience that the current budgetary allocations of his government can be slashed to any extent to make financial space to carry out massive flood rescue and relief work, but the budget meant for empowering the differently abled persons in the province will not be reduced.
He said that if any request is sent by his special assistant Sadiq Memon, who was also present on the occasion, for empowering special persons, the budget meant for this noble cause can be increased. “This is because these special persons need more government support during such trying times.”