Pakistan reports less than 7,000 disabled people in its population

From The Daily Times in Pakistan:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- According to data available with the government there are only 6,789 disabled persons in the country, of which 4,209 are men, 1,222 are women and 1,358 are children, Minister for Social Welfare Samina Khalid Ghurki told the National Assembly in a written reply during question hour on April 24.

Successive governments have been announcing different facilities for disabled persons, but have gathered no authentic data on the total number of disabled persons among the population, the minister said.

Ghurki said the National Council for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (NCRDP) and Provincial Councils for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (PCRDPs) are responsible for the registration of disabled persons. She said the requisite data is being collected from all PCRDPs.

She said that on the basis of a disability certificate from the NCRDP, disabled persons can avail certain facilities including employment against a two percent reserved quota, free medial treatment in all federal government hospitals, rehabilitative aid and duty free import of cars for the physically disabled.