Edhi Foundation service statisitics 2008: 31pc increase in dumped newborns

[Naveed Yaseen]

There was an 18 percent-increase in the number of unclaimed dead bodies, and an increase of 31 per cent in the number of newborn babies found in garbage dumps in 2008, according to the annual report of the Edhi Foundation released on Wednesday. The foundation provided shrouds to 14,565 unclaimed bodies and buried them for free in 2008, the report said.

In Karachi, 3,119 unclaimed dead bodies were kept in the Edhi mortuary, while 670 bodies were handed over to their legal heirs. As many as 2,440 dead bodies were buried in the Edhi graveyard in Mawach Goth.

Moreover, four unidentified bodies of people killed during the procession of Benazir Bhutto on October 18 and 16 bodies found in gunny bags were buried art the Garhi Khuda Bux graveyard, Larkana, after seeking permission from the government, the report said.

The Edhi Foundation also sent ambulances and relief goods to help the victims of the earthquake in Ziarat (Balochistan) in 2008. As many as 281 injured people were shifted to hospitals through Edhi ambulances.

“On the whole, 1,300 ambulances of the Edhi Foundation shifted 2,512,500 patients and bodies to hospitals or from hospitals to their homes in 2008 on nominal charges. There was an increase of 12 per cent in this service in 2008 as compared to the previous year,” the report said.

Similarly, Edhi ambulances shifted victims of 51 bomb blasts in Peshawar, Swat, Mingora, Malakand, Bannu, Kohat, Charsadda and Dera Ismail Khan and four people who died after a bomb blast in Marriot Hotel in Islamabad. Edhi ambulances also shifted 2,180 injured people to hospitals for free.

In Balochistan, 89 people who died of seven bomb blasts and in firing incidents besides 217 injured were shifted to different hospitals through Edhi ambulances.

In December, eight victims of the Ghaghar Plaza accident in Rawalpindi were shifted to hospitals through Edhi ambulances while seven people who died after the collapse of Sajjad Plaza in Sukkur and 12 injured were also shifted to the Civil Hospital through Edhi ambulances.

The report said that the Edhi Foundation provided emergency medical service to 3,118 severely injured people in 2008 and as many as 1,120 people were rescued during flooding in Sindh and Balochistan and 42 people who died of drowning in Karachi and Gadani (Balochistan) were shifted to their homes through Edhi ambulances.

The Edhi Foundation also provided food to 27,980 people who became homeless due to fires, earthquakes and flooding in Balochistan, Sindh, NWFP and Punjab in 2008.

The annual report said that the Edhi Foundation also buried the bodies of 237 newly-born babies found in garbage dumps in Karachi and 741 such bodies in Pakistan as a whole in 2008. As many as 1,941 mentally ill and handicapped people were admitted to “Edhi Village” while 1,512 were handed over to their families.

At Edhi’s North Karachi Centre, the report said, 1,219 physically- and mentally-challenged women were admitted and 880 were handed over to their families.

Moreover, the report said, 201 girls were admitted to Edhi Family Child Home, Clifton and 98 of them were handed over to their families. As many as 189 elderly people were admitted to the Edhi Old Age Centre in Qasba Colony and 2,501 women found temporary refuge at the Edhi Home in Sohrab Goth.

In 2008, Edhi’s dispensaries, diagnostic centres, laboratories, and x-ray centres provided service to 61,210 patients for free, and the Edhi Free Nursing Training Centre, Mithadar, Karachi provided training to 185 girls. Moreover, 25,000 destitute people were provided food daily by Abdus Sattar Edhi.

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