ISLAMABAD:A total of 314 deserving deaf and mute children have successfully been provided cochlear implants, under public private partnership, enabling them to have happy and independent lives in time to come, Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal Managing Director Amir Fida Paracha said on Tuesday.
Talking to reporter, he said nearly 5,000 deaf children of poor families in Pakistan under age of 5 year were unable to get the treatment due to financial constraints.
The PBM has registered 2,393 children for providing cochlear implant surgeries, but due to insufficient fiscal resources, PBM can not entertain the entire children sans public private partnership.
The managing director emphasized that philanthropists and other donor agencies should make as many contributions as possible towards social welfare activities.
Paracha is in Vienna on a special invitation by a cochlear implant manufacturing company, to persuade the company to provide cochlear implant to PBM on cheaper rates for the children of destitute families in Pakistan.
He said a single cochlear implant ranges from Rs 1.6 million to 2.3 million and so far, the PBM had successfully managed to finance the 314 children through public private partnership.
The Public-private partnership has a life-changing impact on the lives of deaf and mute children.
The PBM bears Rs 1 million for each cochlear implant while the rest of the expenses were being met by the hospitals concerned, he said.
Every family could not afford an expensive cochlear implant for their children so they left their children vulnerable for the entire life just because of financial barrier, he said adding that this medical intervention would have a life-changing impact on the lives of deaf and mute children and would be a source of ever-lasting satisfaction for us as well when these children would grow up with hearing and speaking abilities and eventually, they would be part of the country’s stability and prosperity.
According to a report out of every 1,000 Pakistani, 7-8 are not blessed with the ability to listen. The percentage of deaf individuals in the population is increasing with every year passing. It is need of the hour that the government and non-government organizations collaborate to bring down this percentage.