Families of children with disabilities concerned about suspension of SCA

Prior to the suspension of SCA activities, dozens of children with clubfoot and Development Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH) received physiotherapy services daily in the northeastern provinces. Now they cannot get the services they urgently need.

Ghulamuddin, a resident of Warook village in Farkhar district of Takhar province, is worried about his youngest son, Nizamuddin.

“All my children have been born with clubfoot, but we have received treatment at SCA’s rehabilitation center, and they are now well and normal. But I am concerned about the lack of services for my youngest child who has similar problem. He is four months old. I came to SCA’s office four times since he was born, but there were no activities and I returned home without receiving any services,” he says.

Fahima, Nizamuddin’s mother, says the family could not find any other organisation in Takhar or in Kunduz and Baghlan, two neighboring provinces, to treat him.

“We don’t have enough money to travel outside the country for my child treatment. I’m worried about my child’s future and remaining his disability,” she says.

Nizamuddin is an example of dozens of children which their treatment stopped after SCA’s activities were suspended.

Dr. Homa Azimi, responsible for the physiotherapy unit at SCA’s regional office in Taloqan, explains that early interventions are crucial for children with DDH and clubfoot. Otherwise, their disabilities will be permanent.

“Families must send the children to physiotherapy centers during childhood,” she says. “I am concerned about the situation, because there are no active centers “in the region” that have physiotherapy services. It is a big risk for families who have newborn children with disabilities.”