Addressing the participants of 2nd National Neuro- Rehabilitation Conference, he said in view of surge in the incidence of disability, both congenital and accidental, DUHS took the initiative and established Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (IPM&R) in 2007.
The institute aimed at providing multi-disciplinary rehabilitation services to people suffering from different categories of disabilities, he said, has managed to carve a niche for itself by catering to the needs of target population in an efficient manner.
About the DUHS institute of Liver Diseases, Professor Masood Hameed Khan said Live Donor Liver Transplantation program will be an essential component of it besides other crucial treatment modalities and public awareness program to prevent liver associated ailments. He appreciated DUHS' Institute of Physical Medicine for hosting the 2nd National Neuro Rehabilitation Conference in collaboration with Pakistan Society of Neuro-Rehab. The theme of the two events that concluded Sunday evening was "Challenging the Challenges in Neuro-Rehab," encompassing innovations in Neuro rehabilitation, advancement in basic neuroscience and in clinical practice resulting in societal impact of changing the lives of many neurologically impaired patients and re-integrate them in a society after undergoing multi-disciplinary rehabilitation management.
Professor M. Wasay, President Pakistan Society of Neurology, in his presentation, "Burden of Disability Challenges in Pakistan," said no less than one billion in the world suffer from one or other type of disability and out of these 93 million are children. In Pakistan, he said 5.03 million people are disabled and there is urgent need to improve rehabilitation services across the country.
In Pakistan, the senior neurologist said diabetes and hypertension induced disabilities are also assuming serious proportion. "Moreover, pre-mature births, poor antenatal, natal, postnatal care, bomb blasts, earthquakes, traffic accident, violence and congenital abnormalities continue to persists in the country," he regretted.
Dr Nabeela Soomro, Director, IPM&R on the occasion said that every hospital in the developed world as well as in many of the developing countries there has mandatory provision for Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. "Even our neighbouring countries have multiple rehabilitation institutes in their medical universities and tertiary care hospitals catering to the multi-disciplinary rehabilitation management of disabled sector of the society but in our country this service is young, growing and neglected," she said.
Dr Soomro claimed that IPM&R at DUHS is the first civilian institute in the country offering multi-disciplinary services.