Father of four blind children seeks government help

[LahoreEstate]

Monday, June 29, 2009
By Atif Nadeem

LAHORE

THE tale of a father, Shahzad Ali, makes one sad as his four children Ehsan Khan, 17, Zeeshan Khan, 16, Aroosa, 13 and Nadia, 11, have gradually lost their sight, leading to complete blindness due to innate genetic ophthalmic disorder called retinitis pigmentosa.

His two daughters, the elder Aroosa and the younger one Nadia have still got fifty percent and twenty five percent sight intact, suggesting that the younger one was losing her sight faster than her elder sister. Shahzad Ali’s fifth child and the middle one Usman Khan, 14, does not suffer from the disease and enjoys completely healthy vision.

Shahzad Ali, 36, had married his first cousin in 1988. However, the strange eye ailment among the children was not an inherited disease because neither parents nor their families had any history of the ophthalmic disorder.

Shahzad said his entire family was going through a severe mental trauma owing to the inherent visual disorder among his children which was brining miseries with every passing day, making life meaningless for the whole family.

“It is extremely painful to see the children hitting the walls every now and then. As the children are growing in age, their necessities of life are also increasing but they are compelled to lead a wretched life,” he said.

“We were very worried about the future of the children because it is difficult to seek matrimonial matches for normal children, not to speak of blind ones,” he said

Shahzad said he had been running from pillar to post for the last several years for the treatment of his children, adding he had visited major government and private hospitals for seeking treatment against heavy fees. He quoted doctors as saying that researchers in the US had claimed making progress in the cure of the disease after conducting successful experiments on rats and other animals.

The disability of his children forced Shahzad Ali to think about establishing an organisation for the welfare of the disabled, especially the blind children and the establishment of the Shahzad Khan Special Educational Society was a step to fulfil the mission.

“Our Society is successfully running a special school named S S Khan Institute for the Blind, where blind children are taught with modern technology using special equipments like Perkins Braille Machines and computer programs. The children are also engaged in vocational training to build confidence,” he said. Shehzad has appealed to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the philanthropists across the world to help him get eyes of his children medically treated besides funding welfare projects for disabled children.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=185469