A person who sustains spinal injuries will most likely lose hope and give up. This is the same with Gul Shada who thought her life would be over after meeting a road accident together with her husband. According to reports, the accident the couple sustained proved to be very fatal since it made Shada not only a widow but also gave her an injury that caused her to be paralyzed. The young 37-year old Pakistani woman was almost ready to give up until she was brought to the only paraplegic center in the country, the PPC. Shada was treated and operated on her spinal cord injury. The operation was a success and Shada was able to sit on wheelchair and continue with her life.
The PPC is the one and only paraplegic center in Pakistan. It provides free treatment to patients who have sustained spinal injuries. It has only about 110 staff members tending to more than thousands of patients every year.
A new beginning
Hope remains vital to a person’s recovery. Looking forward to a new beginning is always the best way to heal and get better. This has been the main goal and aim of PPC in helping their patients. Statistics have also shown that about 80% of those sustaining spinal injuries are breadwinners making it much harder for their families to preserve their way of living. It is also clear in reports that more than 90% of them belong way down the poverty line.
Recovering from the accident and being able to sit on a wheelchair was not the only blessing the 37-year old widow Shada received. After her recovery and rehabilitation in PPC, she was also taught sewing and embroidery. According to Shada, she thought that she would be bedridden for the rest of her life. She also added that what happened to her is a great example of how PPC helps people in getting better by giving them a new outlook in life. The skills that PPC taught Shada made her capable of sustaining her family’s needs and ensuring her children’s future.
An institution of goodwill
The PPC has a long history of helping people, stretching all the way back to the time of the Soviet war. It was established by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1983. The main goal of this center was to tend the wounded in the Soviet conflict. When the ICRC withdrew in 1995, the center was left in the hands of the Pakistan Red Crescent until new management took over in 2005.
The CEO’s thoughts
According to PPC’s CEO, Syed Muhammad Ilyas, the center is dedicated to its mandate of helping injured men and women in regaining their physical strength so that they would not be a burden to their families. He also pointed out that he understands the frustration these patients harbor after sustaining such injuries making them unable to perform tasks of daily living. This is the reason why PPC is dedicated to helping patients recover as well as giving them useful skills that they can use in order to enjoy a measure of independence.
Photo Credit: A Pakistani Woman
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