Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Head of the Prime Minister’s Strategic Reforms Salman Sufi said on Monday that the government under the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken a historic step of strategic reforms in the field of healthcare research and development to empower persons with disabilities.

In an exclusive interview with PTV News, he said that the present government was taking practical steps to strengthen the infrastructure that empowers persons with disabilities, adding that the modified wheelchairs for patients with cerebral palsy and devices to help other disabled citizens would be manufactured in Pakistan at low cost.

He said that public and private organizations engaged in manufacturing Cerebral Palsy prostheses would be assisted and their number would be increased on merit.

He said special persons deserved special attention and the government would work to provide facilities to them on a priority basis, adding that vocational training and placement-based rehabilitation of special persons would help them and create opportunities for persons with disabilities to be an active part of the society.

Replying to a question, he said that the public hospital’s emergency services would be further improved, adding that with the coordination of private partnerships’ music therapy training’ and ‘awareness’ would be created on a national level.

He further said that under the reforms, the low-cost special wheelchairs and other helping materials would be locally manufactured, so that these requisite items could be easily available to the ordinary citizens.