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CHAPTER 5
PAKISTAN
When I visited this country in 1953, at tne request of the Pakistani Government and the
World Veterans Federation, to investigate the facilities for rehabilitation in the Military
Cantonments, paraplegic ex-servicemen were congregated in a hostel of the Red Cross
in Sialkot. Their conditions were most unsatisfactory and they lived in a ward without
any incentive for an active life, although there were already good facilities for the social
re-integration of amputees. The condition of the few civilian paraplegics I saw at Jinnah
Hospital in Karachi was quite hopeless. At that time, the country had still to cope with
the resettlement of several millions of refugees from India. Conditions have considerably
changed since, and Jinnah Hospital, which I visited in 1968, is well equipped for a Spinal
Injuries Unit, which has been established as part of the Orthopaedic Department.
Professor Kazi and Dr Kermani are very anxious to increase the unit under its own
director, as the number of paraplegics is increasing from year to year due to increasing
industrialization and road accidents. The problem of spinal cord injuries will no doubt
have considerably increased during the latest conflict with India.
SOUTH KOREA
There is little known of the treatment and care of civilian paraplegics in Korea. However,
the Veteran Administration in Seoul has made considerable progress in the rehabilitation
of ex-servicemen. They are well trained in sport and a Korean team has taken part in the
International Stoke Mandeville Games in increasing numbers during the last few years.
