ICRC establishes ‘Clubfoot Home’ in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has established a state-of-the-art facility in the provincial capital to treat children born with clubfoot deformity.

Caretaker provincial Minster of Health Akbar Jan Marwat inaugurated the “Clubfoot Home” here on Tuesday.

Established under a memorandum of understanding between the ICRC and the Paraplegic Centre Peshawar, “Clubfoot Home” will use the Ponseti method for correction of clubfeet.

The Clubfoot Home is equipped to treat 24 children with clubfoot daily. “There was a tremendous need for a facility that could offer various services for the treatment of club foot deformity under one roof.

The free treatment will benefit thousands of families,” said Akbar Jan Marwat.

Paraplegic Centre Peshawar Chief Executive Syed Muhammad Ilyas said soon the facility would act as referral centre for complicated cases from all other clubfoot clinics of KP. “To ensure uninterrupted treatment, we will offer accommodation and cover the cost of travel for those coming from far-flung areas,” he said.

The ICRC head of delegation in Pakistan Reto Stocker said, “Our focus in Pakistan has been to develop local partnerships and promote best practices, and this centre is another example of how the ICRC is reaching out to people in need of humanitarian assistance.

This strategy has the strength of bringing sustainability to the country’s humanitarian response mechanism.”

As part of its physical rehabilitation programme in Pakistan, the ICRC established a special clinic at the Muzaffarabad Physical Rehabilitation Centre in 2010 to treat children with clubfeet.

Since then, around 4,000 children have been treated at six ICRC-supported centres that are being run in collaboration with partners, including the Lady Reading Hospital.