Day: July 31, 2021

ISLAMABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Election Commission has completed scrutiny of the nomination papers filed by the candidates for eight reserved seats in Azad Jammu and Kashmir legislative Assembly.

Elections on these reserved seats will be held on Monday. Out of eight, five seats have been reserved for women and three including one each for Muslim religious scholars, Overseas Kashmiris and Technocrats.

The inaugural session of the newly elected AJK Legislative Assembly will be held on Tuesday in which elected members of the house will take the oath of their office.

GULISTAN: Spokesperson of Sindh Government and Advisor for Law, Environment and Coastal Development Barrister Murtaza Wahab has said that yesterday Sindh Chief Minister was apprised of the latest situation of Corona virus and appealed for cooperation from all political and religious parties including citizens.

After the meeting of the Task Force, the Sindh Chief Minister had also talked to the Federal Minister Asad Umar and Dr. Faisal Sultan in which it was decided that a notification would be issued by the NCOC but after the announcement of the lockdown, the federal government’ spokesperson objected, saying it was not the prerogative of the Sindh government.

He expressed these views while addressing a press conference at the Chief Minister’s House here today. He said that Sindh government shared the draft notification regarding lockdown with NCOC and we had not spoken orally but in writing.

During the press conference, Barrister Murtaza Wahab also showed the documents shared with the NCOC. He also said that the federal government had objected to the ban on inter-provincial transport on which the Sindh government had issued an amendment notification.

He further said that the NCOC did not say anywhere that lockdown should not be imposed. We try to negotiate with the federal government, but unfortunately when these people come on television, their position is different. “I request that this issue not be brought up in the political arena. We have to save our people from this deadly epidemic,” he said.

“I urge the narrators to persuade the people instead of making statements and not to create chaos. When the Buzdar government imposed the lockdown, they did not object and we did not criticize because we know the seriousness of the corona virus and the situation in Lahore is better known to Usman Buzdar. People in Islamabad are not aware of the seriousness of Karachi.

He added that private hospitals were full and government hospitals were gradually filling up. This was not the job of politicians but of medical experts. Please pay attention to the words of medical experts. The medical experts of the task force said that our doctors are tired and the doctors are getting infected with the virus. It was decided that the SIM of the mobile phone would be blocked, after which the vaccination has increased tremendously in the last four days.

LARKANA: The Director General, Health Services, Sindh, has directed District Health Officers (DHOs) of 20 districts of the province to take over health facilities outsourced to Integrated Health Services (IHS). In this connection the DHOs have also been directed to depute a team of at least two senior officers not below the rank of BPS-19 to visit all government health facilities in their respective districts. They will prepare details of assets and submit to the DG office within five days through respective DHOs.

The letter has become viral on social media and includes a list of 111 health facilities which were handed over to IHS for better performance but it turned out to be a blunder. These districts include Hyderabad, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Dadu, Jamshoro, Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar, Umarkot, Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawabshah), Naushehro Feroze, Sanghar, Sukkur, Khairpur, Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore and Kambar-Shahdadkot.

These health facilities were outsources to IHS under Public-Private Partnership for better management so that poor patients should not suffer but the poverty-stricken ailing people continued to face hardships and IHS failed to either manage or to improve the health care services despite enjoying billions of taxpayer’s hard earned money annually and provision of all the relevant doctors and paramedics who were drawing Health Department salaries. IHS also recruited its untrained people and according to complaints they mostly misbehaved with the visitors and manhandled them over petty issues.

Specialist cadre and post-graduate doctors were not employed to fulfill the requirements due to which indisposed persons had to run from one facility to another for proper diagnosis of their diseases. Medicines, equipment and instruments and diagnostic facilities were lacking and outdated machines were not replaced. Retired doctors were employed against lucrative salaries for OPD work but drugs were procured by the starved patients who were already facing massive price-hikes. As per reports, operation theaters remained mostly closed and emergency services were denied.

As many as 21 Rural Health Centers (RHCs) of the entire Larkana Division were handed over to IHS in 2016 but none of them worked professionally. Meanwhile, Dr. Rafiq-ul-Hassan Khokhar, General Secretary, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Sindh, in a statement on Saturday, highly appreciated and welcomed the decision of the Sindh Government to take back the possession of Health Care facilities outsourced to IHS.

He said since many years PMA has been demanding the same including health facilities given to PPHI because “these organizations completely failed to deliver proper health care facilities to the patients”, adding “rather they have given a mega financial loss to Government of Sindh”, the statement added. He demanded to take over all leftover health care facilities including those given to PPHI immediately and their employees be merged in the Health Department. However, “the Health Department also needs cleanup operation and needs updated improvement”, the statement concluded.

Dr. Muhammad Sharif Pirzado, Medical Superintendent (MS), 100-Bed Government Hospital, Naundero, while talking to this Scribe, said that we fully support government decision of taking back all the health facilities outsourced to IHS because it stood banned in KPK. He said no orthopedic, eye, ENT surgeons were provided and gynecology, pediatrician and other essential post-graduate doctors facilities were denied to the people of Naundero to mention a few.

He said IHS could not even establish paeds ward despite availability of beds and casualty is working without air-conditioners in this hot weather. He said drugs from multinational companies were not supplied. He said Sindh Government should now properly manage these health facilities to reduce rush at Teaching Hospitals for which DDO powers should be given to the MSs along with required annual budget so that poor patients could be given better service.

GULISTAN: Dr. Muneer Baloch, President, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, central region Balochistan has said, “Our struggle is for the rights of people” adding that the ideology of Prime Minister, Imran Khan was a beacon for the young generation.

These views were expressed by him while addressing a function held in Killi Kandeel, Saegi, Tehsil Gulistan on Saturday. On the occasion, young social and tribal leader, Zakir Khan Tareen along with his friends and tribesmen announced to join PTI.

Addressing the function, Zakir Khan Tareen said that he had joined PTI for the rights of the people of his area, because, he added that focus of Imran Khan’s struggle was not political interest rather the focus of his struggle was for the rights of the people. He said that he would alter the lot of his area by conveying the message of Prime Minister Imran to each and every house of his area.

He said that PTI would win the forthcoming local bodies election with clear majority. Function was also attended by Syed Bismillah Agha, President, PTI, Quetta city, spokesperson, Muhammad Asif Tareen, Sardar Dawood Tareen, President, PTI District Pishin, Malik Naseebullah Betani, Jabbar Khan, Arif Khan Kakar, leader of Insaf Student Federation (ISF), Syed Sanaullah Agha, Yehya Khan Kakar, Rozi Khan, Janan Tareen, Lala Ghulam Jan Bareach, Akram Tareen, Naseebullah Kaliwal, Gul Khan Achakzai, Haji Muhammad Khan Tareen and others.

LARKANA: A poisonous snake killed a young man near Dokri in Larkana district on Saturday.

His relatives told newsmen that Nazir Ahmed Bhurt, 35, was working at an agricultural field when he was bitten by a poisonous snake in Nangal Shah village located near Dokri in Larkana district.

They said they took him to a Dokri hospital where anti-snake venom vaccine was not available, hence, they brought him to the Emergency Department of the Chandka Medical College Hospital here for treatment, but doctors said that he had died. His body was handed over to his heirs after necessary formalities.

LARKANA: One pregnant woman Saba, wife of Abdul Qadir Kumbhar, resident of Khaliq Colony, came for delivery at Shaikh Zayed Women Hospital (SZWH) of Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH) here on Saturday but died allegedly due to sheer negligence of the lady doctors.

Her heirs protested against the rude and rough behaviour of the lady doctors demanding justice. Her husband Abdul Qadir complained to media persons that he brought his wife to SZWH after her condition deteriorated at home but after checkup they said that she is having fever and referred her to CMCH Casualty. He said that when he took her to Casualty, the doctors said to shift her to SZWH and I again brought her to SZWH where lady doctors, despite serious condition neither operated her nor provided any treatment due to which his wife and the child she was carrying died which is unjust, inhumane and unbecoming of decent doctors. He alleged that his wife and baby have been killed by duty doctors who should be taken to task forthwith for their negligent failure to save two precious lives.

Meanwhile, PPI has learnt that over 200 lady doctors, post-graduate students, house officers, professors, associate and assistant professors are working at SZWH but only four operations are carried out daily which expose their working. Credible sources added that women are forced to get operated at their private medical centers where the poor ladies are charged exorbitant rates but nobody has so far taken any notice against this high-handedness and flourishing trade which has far-reaching effects on our society which need to be curbed with iron hands of law.

Will the Health Department and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University authorities take notice of this manipulation, mismanagement and call for daily reports from every professor, associate and assistant professors work at SZWH so that their work could be exposed and poor women are not subjected to bear extra costs of getting operated at private medical centers or such private medical centers should be recommended to be banned.

BAHAWALPUR: In the last two years, 21 MPhil and PhD programs have been approved in the Islamia University of Bahawalpur by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The approval of such a large number of programs is a testament to the university’s quality of education. The Higher Education Commission approves new programs at the level of MPhil and PhD programs after fulfilling some important criteria. They must have the number of PhD faculty. Due to special attention of the Vice Chancellor steps were taken to improve the faculty and infrastructure. Measures were taken such as organizing of selection board and new buildings construction and provision of state-of-the-art laboratories and modern equipment.

The Higher Education Commission issued NOCs for new programs include PhD Applied Psychology, PhD Electrical Engineering, MSc Horticulture, PhD Horticulture, PhD Entomology, MSc Electrical Engineering Communication and Signal Processing, PhD Plant Pathology, MSc Plant Pathology, PhD Eastern Medicine, PhD Social Work, PhD Commerce, MPhil Physical Education and Sports Sciences, MPhil Microbiology, MPhil Psychology, MPhil Parasitology, MPhil Mathematics, MPhil Islamic Studies, MPhil Microbiology, MS Leadership and Management, MPhil Animal Nutrition and MPhil Animal Pathology.