A Ray of Hope for the Children of Kasur

“As a doctor, I felt helpless dealing with the child abuse cases. I did not know how to interact with the victims or which forums to approach for support.” says Dr Mona Habib, a young and passionate medical practitioner at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) in Kasur – the historic town known for being the eternal abode of Sufi poet, Bulleh Shah.

To address this challenge, Grassroots Organization for Human Development (GOHD) arranged sensitization sessions in Kasur under their project “Empowering Communities and Strengthening Response Mechanisms to Child Sexual Abuse” with the financial support from Ambassador’s Fund Grant Program (AFGP).

Dr Mona is one of the doctors who attended a day-long sensitization workshop on child sexual abuse, organized for doctors working at the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Kasur.

“I learnt about vulnerabilities of the victims of child abuse and ways to help the survivors live a normal life.”, says Dr. Mona. “However, I noticed that there was lack of a support system at most of our hospitals for the child abuse survivors,” she adds.

She started making efforts for institutionalizing a support mechanism for the victims of child abuse. She was finally able to get a Child Protection Committee (CPC) notified at the District Health Authority, Kasur. The Committee consists of representatives of civil society, Child Protection Bureau, Social Welfare Department, and two doctors including a woman. It has amandate to look out for children suspected to have been sexually abused, and report such cases to the relevant authorities and provide health care to the victims. It is responsible for conducting the preliminary investigation of the case and report it to the relevant authorities including Police, Social Welfare Department, and Child Protection Bureau. “The DHQ management has directed all the doctors to report any suspected case of child abuse to the Committee,” shares Dr Mona.