MULTAN: Babar Sultan is one of many polio affectees who has not let this crippling and infectious disease become his weakness. Sultan, aged 28 and a victim of polio since childhood, established a school for special children and has devoted his entire life for the provision of educational facilities to the special children.
“I faced a lot of difficulties while acquiring education and right after completing of my education, I decided to open a school for the children who have been suffering from this crippling disease”, says Sultan. The school is located near Sultan’s home at Shareef pura in District Multan. Sultan says that his mother supported him a lot in fulfilling his dream. Amna khatoon, mother of Sultan, says that her son was very ambitious and motivated when he shared his idea of opening up a school for poor and disable children two years ago. “Every day he used to go out to collect charity and with the help of a non-government organization, he became successful in setting up a school,” says Sultan’s mother.
Talking to the Daily Times, Sultan says that the drive for opening up a school for disabled (special) children was to instill self-confidence among the children. Being the victim of polio, I can feel the pain of these children and at times, it becomes unbearable when the society ignores and misbehaves with the people suffering from polio, he says. “I want to save these children from the self-pity and insulting attitude of other people”, he adds. Sultan further says that few organizations assisted him in his mission at start but later he was all alone. “The aim of sharing my personal story is not to ask for any financial assistance but to create awareness among the masses about the importance of polio vaccine,” says Sultan.
Among the 200 students studying at Sultan’s school, 30 students are suffering from polio. The students at the school told this scribe that they were satisfied with the all the facilities available at the school and thanked their teachers for making special efforts for their future. “Every day, our teachers tell us that we are not disabled and we can achieve everything in life just as normal people do,” says a student.
Sultan further states that the biggest misconception about the polio vaccination is that it is unhealthy for children and can become the reason for other fatal diseases. “My parents made this mistake because of this misconception so, I appeal everyone not to repeat this mistake again and regularly vaccinate the children against polio,” says Sultan.
Babar Sultan always tries to assist the district government in the anti-polio campaigns carried out every month. Sultan says that he assists and cooperates with the teams of health department and district government so that other people should witness the result of denying polio vaccination.
Dr Zafar Iqbal, polio campaign incharge in Multan district, appreciated the efforts of Babar Sultan for creating awareness about the polio vaccination. “Babar Sultan insists that parents should administer anti-polio drops and talks about the misconceptions about the vaccination, he is a role model for all those who thinks that disability is hindrance in achieving one’s goals”, says Dr Iqbal.
Dr Iqbal further told this scribe that a total of 862932 children were vaccinated in the recent three-day polio campaign and its follow up will end up on Monday. He also told that a total of 1824 mobile teams and 196 follow-up teams were constituted in this regard. He further told that 144 teams were appointed at the bus stops, railway stations and other public places to administer anti-polio drops to the children less than five years of age.
Published in Daily Times, October 4th 2018.