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Marie
Adelaide Leprosy Centre
On the 11th March 2010, selected students of the A level's including
my self, accompanied by Dr.Salima, paid a visit to the Marie Adelaide
Leprosy Centre(MALC) located at Off Shahrah-e-Liaquat, Saddar.
There we met Dr. Ruth Pfau, the founder member of Marie Adelaide
Leprosy Centre. On 8th March 2010 she completed 50th years of services
in Leprosy and uplifted of marginalized groups in Pakistan.
Dr.Ruth Pfau arrived in Pakistan on 8th March 196. She joined the
group that had started Leprosy work in Karachi. To alleviate the
sufferings of people affected by Leprosy, Dr Pfau established an
80 bedded hospital in Karachi and in collaboration with the Government
of Pakistan, she set up 157 Leprosy control centers across the country.
She fostered social rehabilitation of patients and worked desperately
to remove the public's fear of Leprosy. In 1996, she succeeded to
manage Control of Leprosy in Pakistan, making it the first country
in Asia to achieve this goal. Her journey is on from Leprosy to
Community Development and Human Rights in Pakistan.
The Leprosy work in Pakistan had started in the year of 1965 by
the group of DHM nuns who responded to the call from the then Archbishop
of Karachi; to help the Leprosy patients who had settled, around
the year 1955, in the slum quarters of McLeod Road behind the present
Jang Press. The living conditions in this colony was sub human to
call it the least; there was always gutter water overflowing, mixed
with all the garbage and stench from the open drains, and to add
to the sorrow were the huge sewer rats which feasted on the anesthetic
limbs of the Leprosy patients, who because of the loss of sensation
were unable to feel the rat biting on their limb, resulting in repeated
ulcers.
Can you imagine anyone touching, treating, hugging and living with
a Leprosy patient the one who is shun by even his own blood relation
including parents. Dr.Pfau not only did it herself but also motivated
her team to care for them, to treat them, to live with them and
above all - love them.
Dr.Pfau believes that the Leprosy victims have been cured only after
he gains back the human rights - clothing, food, shelter and most
importantly education. She believes that adjusting with the society
with respect and dignity, after Leprosy has been cured is of immense
importance, their rehabilitation is of great significance. I learned
from Dr.Pfau that 70% of the population is naturally immune to Leprosy;
it is the remaining 30% which gets affected.
MALC ensures that every patient diagnosed and enrolled with MALC
gets proper treatment, and leaves after being cured. Mr. Shakil
Ahmed in facts said that if the patient does not come to MALC to
receive the medicines on the date appointed, then MALC ensures that
the medicines are delivered to his house.
Upon asking Dr.Pfau of what we, as volunteers can do, she said,
it might not be practical to take the volunteers to the remote areas
where the community centres are located due to security and infrastructure
reasons. But what we can do is, come to the hospital located at
Saddar and sit with the patients, the most important task of listening
to their stories.
"When God made man, he made each one of them different,"
convince the patients, she said. She ensured that the patients at
the hospital have been cured and are not contagious.
They come for treatments of the problems they face after Leprosy
has been cured, such as ulcers and deformity.
"There is hardly any thing where you can't do any thing for
it," is what Dr.Pfau believes. And this spirit has enabled
her to achieve what she has. She is indeed a blessing to our country.
A blessing whose value we are yet to realize.
Sameen Asif
President- Michael's Community Service
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