Omar1984
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2008
- Messages
- 12,296
- Reaction score
- 0
Germany to provide $50m to Pakistan for health, education
Sunday, January 25, 2009
By By our correspondent
Karachi
Germany will provide a development aid of 50 million dollars to Pakistan for the duration of 2009 to 2013, German Consul General Dr Christian Brecht told The News on Saturday. A major chunk of the aid will go to the health and education sectors.
He was attending an event organised at the St. Patricks High School by the by Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC) to commemorate 56th World Leprosy. Dr Brecht said that the German Leprosy and Tuberculosis (TB) Relief Association (GLRA) has been continuously providing help to leprosy centres in Pakistan. Some other German NGOs had also been providing assistance in health issues to their Pakistani counterparts.
GLRA representative in Pakistan, Klaus Herrmann, commended the MALC and the efforts of Dr Ruth Pfau for controlling leprosy in Pakistan. He hoped German NGOs and philanthropists would continue to support leprosy centres in Pakistan. He expressed concern, however, regarding the shrinking amount of donations being given to this sector in Germany, and advised NGOs to focus on sources of finance other than donations. The government needs to realise its responsibility regarding leprosy and increase the health budget. NGOs cannot finance the whole health system, he said.
MALC CEO Shakeel Ahmed urged the corporate sector to come forward to help the poor patients. Donations from abroad have reduced greatly due to the prevailing financial situation, and so we have approached the local corporate sector to finance health projects, he said.
Dr Ruth Pfau, one of the pioneers of leprosy centres in Pakistan, said she was very happy that people were contributing towards the treatment of leprosy. She, however, lamented health conditions with respect to leprosy in the country. I visited Dera Allahyar in Balochistan four years ago, and there was only one case of leprosy. Now 16 cases have been reported because no one has gone there for the last two years. We then trained a leprosy technician to work in that area, Dr Pfau said.
She said that she had recently visited Balochistan and found that several cases of leprosy had been reported in areas where health facilities were not available and people were not informed about the disease. MAL centres in Balochistan were receiving 10 to 15 skin patients daily because skin diseases had increased manifold there. She hoped to eliminate leprosy from Pakistan by 2009.
Meanwhile, the MALC staff presented a tableau based on a true incident where a blind girl belonging to a remote area of Balochistan got her eye sight restored by MALC doctors. Students of Bay View High School also presented a skit about leprosy patients and received thunderous applause.
Germany to provide $50m to Pakistan for health, education
THANK YOU GERMANY
Sunday, January 25, 2009
By By our correspondent
Karachi
Germany will provide a development aid of 50 million dollars to Pakistan for the duration of 2009 to 2013, German Consul General Dr Christian Brecht told The News on Saturday. A major chunk of the aid will go to the health and education sectors.
He was attending an event organised at the St. Patricks High School by the by Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC) to commemorate 56th World Leprosy. Dr Brecht said that the German Leprosy and Tuberculosis (TB) Relief Association (GLRA) has been continuously providing help to leprosy centres in Pakistan. Some other German NGOs had also been providing assistance in health issues to their Pakistani counterparts.
GLRA representative in Pakistan, Klaus Herrmann, commended the MALC and the efforts of Dr Ruth Pfau for controlling leprosy in Pakistan. He hoped German NGOs and philanthropists would continue to support leprosy centres in Pakistan. He expressed concern, however, regarding the shrinking amount of donations being given to this sector in Germany, and advised NGOs to focus on sources of finance other than donations. The government needs to realise its responsibility regarding leprosy and increase the health budget. NGOs cannot finance the whole health system, he said.
MALC CEO Shakeel Ahmed urged the corporate sector to come forward to help the poor patients. Donations from abroad have reduced greatly due to the prevailing financial situation, and so we have approached the local corporate sector to finance health projects, he said.
Dr Ruth Pfau, one of the pioneers of leprosy centres in Pakistan, said she was very happy that people were contributing towards the treatment of leprosy. She, however, lamented health conditions with respect to leprosy in the country. I visited Dera Allahyar in Balochistan four years ago, and there was only one case of leprosy. Now 16 cases have been reported because no one has gone there for the last two years. We then trained a leprosy technician to work in that area, Dr Pfau said.
She said that she had recently visited Balochistan and found that several cases of leprosy had been reported in areas where health facilities were not available and people were not informed about the disease. MAL centres in Balochistan were receiving 10 to 15 skin patients daily because skin diseases had increased manifold there. She hoped to eliminate leprosy from Pakistan by 2009.
Meanwhile, the MALC staff presented a tableau based on a true incident where a blind girl belonging to a remote area of Balochistan got her eye sight restored by MALC doctors. Students of Bay View High School also presented a skit about leprosy patients and received thunderous applause.
Germany to provide $50m to Pakistan for health, education
THANK YOU GERMANY
