ISLAMABAD: The autistic children need special care and with a little ef fort parents and citizens could reduce their suf fering.

`It is the responsibility of parents and other citizens to take care of special children with special attention and love,` said Ms Zakra, a mother, whose child is a patient of autism and Down syndrome.

She was speaking at a seminar organised by Rehabilitation Centre for Children with Development Disorders on Wednesday to mark World Autism Day.

In the light the United Nations` resolution of 2007, every year the World Autism Day is observed on April 2 to raise awareness of the disease.

To mark the day, the Rehabilitation Centre for Children with Development Disaster organised a colourful event here at its main building in sector H-8. During the event, special children also performed a tableau.

Speaking on the occasion, health expert Dr Hashim Raza said autism was a growing phenomenon as according to American experts, one out of 70 children faced autism while others say it affects one out of a 100. He said autistic children could face behaviour al problem.

`They are afraid of lights and noise; such children are less social. Sometime they like something very much and sometime they hate it,` he said and adding children suffering from autism donotacceptchange.

Dr Hashim said in Pakistan thousands of children were facing autism, but unfortunately, there are very few health f acilities in the country to diagnose them.

He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Fata and Azad Kashmir did not have any centre, while Punjab and Sindh had a centre each.

Other speakers highlighted that better training could make the autistic children productive citizens.

Speaking on the occasion, state minister for Capital Administration and Development Division Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry stressed the need for creating awareness of autism.

He said it was a collective responsibility of the government and citizens to take steps to f acilitate special children.

The state minister said that his ministry had been providing facilities to this centre, established by CADD a couple of years back.

He said under the Prime Minister Education Reforms Programme, five buses had already been provided to the departments working for the betterment of special children.

Earlier, DG Special Education Ishrat Masood said autism unit was established in 2015 and 40 autism-affected children were enrolled. She said the centre was facing shortage of teachers.

Dr. Haleema Sadia and other health experts also spoke on the occasion.

CADD minister said required teachers would be provided to centre soon.