K A R ACHI: Pakistan has one of the largest populations of disabled people in the world with an alarmingly large number of about two million physically or mentally challenged children, who form 43 per cent of the total disabled population of the country, experts said on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, Dr Mohammed Wasay, president of the Pakistan Society of Neurology, said there was neither adequate number of qualified physicians, nor rehabilitation cen-tres for those children to allow them leading a normal life and turn them into productive members of the society.

He said as many as 1.4 million children with physical or mental disabilities were of schoolgoing age in Pakistan, but sadly they had no access to education or rehabilitation despite the fact that Pakistan`s legislature had passed a law for right to free and compulsory education for each and every child in the country.

In this situation, he said his organisation would organise a two-day neuro-rehabilitation conference at the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) starting on Saturday, where experts on neurologicaldisorders and neuro-rehabilitation would discuss different aspects of rehabilitation of disabled people and highlight the need for having rehabilitation centres in the country.

Prof Nabila Soomro, president of Pakistan Society of Neuro-Rehabilitation (PSNR) said a large number of Pakistanis were getting disabled due to neurological, mental and physical disorders as well as due to accidents, incidents of terrorism and other reasons.

She said the number of children among permanently disabled persons was also on the rise as compared to the rest of the world, where number of children with disabilities was notmore than 10pc of the all disabled persons.

She said centres for rehabilitation of disabled persons, including children, were almost non-existent in Pakistan and due to that, a large number of people with disabilities, who could be treated and become active members of the society, became a burden on their families for their entire lives.

Dr Abdul Malik, general secretary of the Pakistan Stroke Society said patients with even minor disabilities were compelled to live as physically or mentally challenged persons.

They said the conference would be a step towards raising awareness of the issue.