Peshawar paraplegic centre to treat, rehabilitate polio survivors

PESHAWAR: The Paraplegic Centre in Hayatabad has decided to start treating and rehabilitating the polio survivors free of cost. The centre s chief executive Dr Ilyas Syed said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister of Finance Taimoor Khan Jhagra will inaugurate the programme on March 28. It is a unique and historic programme. We will treat and comprehensively rehabilitate the polio survivors hundred percent free of cost, he added. The Paraplegic Centre is the only public sector institution providing free of charge services to patients with spinal cord injuries from all over Pakistan and also Afghanistan. It was established in 1979 after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and initially funded by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and later handed over to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to work as an autonomous body under the health department. It has to-date treated more than 12,000 spinal cord patients.