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Islamabad:
Four children in Pakistan's Punjab province have put up a banner
outside their house that reads "children for sale" in a bid to
raise fund for their mother's kidney transplant.
Omar Illyas, son of 35-year-old Aqsa Parveen of Vehari town in
Punjab province, said all valuables in their house had been sold
and their only chance of saving their mother's life was to offer
themselves now, the Express Tribune reported Friday.
Parveen was told at Lahore's Shaikh Zayed Hospital that she needed
a kidney transplant.
A doctor there said the procedure would cost up to Rs.500,000 and
that one of her children would have to donate a kidney, Parveen
said.
As she did not have the required funds at that time, she came back
home and since then has not consulted a physician. She has sold
almost all things in her house and was now dependent on her sister
and her brother-in-law.
Parveen's husband Rana Illyas died five years ago also due to a
kidney ailment.
Omar Illyas had to discontinue his studies after the 10th grade
and worked part-time at a pesticides factory. His siblings Iqra,
Sana and Ali Raza were also forced to leave their education midway
after studying till the 12th grade, ninth grade and sixth grade
respectively.
On hearing about Parveen's plight, the provincial government has
now deputed two senior officials to address the issue.
Parveen has reportedly been moved to the district headquarters
hospital, where she is being given free-of-charge dialysis.
Officials said the government would arrange all medical facilities
required by the woman, and has asked people to donate funds for
her treatment.
Tahir Anwar Wala, a PML-N leader has offered a Rs.5,000 a month
job to Omar and has also announced to fund the boy's education for
as long as he wanted to study.
However, PML-Q provincial assembly member Tahir Iqbal said every
other household in the province was facing similar healthcare
problems, and termed it as a "failure of the government's health
policy".
He accused the government of not being serious about the treatment
of the woman. When she needed an immediate transplant, why was the
government delaying it, he asked.
He threatened to file a murder case against the provincial
government if something happened to the woman due to the "delaying
tactics".
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