‘City to soon have second centre for autistic children’

A well-equipped "Resource-cum-Support Centre" for autistic children will be functional in Karachi from May this year, said provincial government officials addressing a seminar to commemorate World Autism Day 2018.

Actively participating, as a major stakeholder, in the event jointly organised by the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in coordination with Psychiatry Department, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Secretary for Special Education Ahsan Ali Mangi said a series of measures were being adopted for the rehabilitation of the special children.

The facility to be located in thickly populated Gulistan-e-Jauhar would be second of its kind in the metropolis for kids who had autism, he said. "It will be manned by adequately trained professionals and cater to the medical as well as to the psychological and social needs of individuals aged up to 18," said Mangi.

He appreciated that the DUHS as a major medical training university had taken the initiative by establishing the first-ever dedicated autism resource centre in the province, meeting the educational-cum-vocational training needs of the affected children.

Responding to queries from concerned citizens as well as from parents of autistic children, the official said the Sindh Assembly was also in the process of providing legal cover to the rights of these kids, in the particular context of their heirship right.

"The particular law will be adopted shortly," he said. The seminar was also addressed by the pro-vice chancellor of DUHS, Prof Khawar Saeed Jamali, Prof Nabila Soomro, Dr Irum Rizwan, Dr Aisha Sitwat and parents bringing up autistic children.

These parents acknowledged that interventions offered to their kids at the DUHS support centre had markedly improved their life quality in the particular context of self-esteem and confidence.