KARACHI – Under its Social Investment Plan (SIP), the Karachi Electric Supply Company has signed an MoU with the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC) to provide relief to social welfare organisations in the health and education sectors. Under this arrangement, the KESC would pay MALC’s electricity bill every month in recognition of its free medical aid to a large number of leprosy, eye and TB patients across the country. By the end of the past year, the MALC had treated over 800 leprosy patients, operated upon 4,575 eye patients and registered over 10,000 TB patients. The cure rate of leprosy patients by the MALC was recorded around 97 per cent.The memorandum was signed by KESC chief Tabish Gauhar and Dr Ruth Pfau, founder member and vice-president, Board of Governors, Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre. The first memorandum under the SIP was signed with Indus Hospital on Thursday under which the KESC would bear 50 per cent of the hospital’s cost of electricity every month. Tabish Gauhar said “the KESC feels very blessed over providing a humble contribution towards the betterment of patients receiving free medical care at the MALC. We pray for their early recovery and hope that God gives us enough resources to continue helping the needy and deserving. MALC is serving the less privileged patients of the society for over half century free of charge and we fully appreciate its services to humanity.”Dr Ruth Pfau, in her message, said the MALC was extremely thankful to the KESC and highly appreciated its contribution for the unserved communities in the country. It would not have possible for us to sustain the Leprosy Centre without the help of benevolent organisations like KESC. There is surely a great need for such initiatives for the NGO sector that is providing valuable support to the underprivileged in society. The savings generated through subsidized electricity from KESC would help us in better serving the patients and providing them better medicines to live in a society where they are usually treated as outcasts.The Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre is one of the largest NGO in the country running Leprosy Elimination, TB and Blindness Control Program with its headquarters in Karachi, serving as a secondary referral facility for Leprosy patients from all over Pakistan who are treated free of charge. Dr. Ruth Pfau had joined the small setup of MALC back in 1960 as a young lady doctor from Germany who gradually developed it into the National Leprosy Control Program providing comprehensive care and rehabilitation facilities to patients at 157 sub-centres spread across the country.