Pakistan hosts Biennial Congress for first time

LAHORE : The 10th 4-day Biennial Congress, the first such conference in Pakistan, started at a local hotel on Saturday under the auspices of the Asia Pacific Pediatric Cardiac Society. Provincial Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique was the chief guest on this occasion.

Speakers from 18 Asia Pacific Region and 12 other countries and 120 foreign medical experts participated in the congress. 18 medical experts including Tosho Naka CC from Japan, Bharat Alvi, Krishna and Rajesh Sharma from India, Ondoli from South Korea, Farkan from Thailand, Tin from Vietnam, Hossitzgot from Germany, Marco Carminati from Italy, Joseli Rivandra from Uganda, Shakeel Qureshi from UK, Asif Hassan from USA, Frank from USA, Zahid Amin from USA, Saudi Zaheer Al-Hulaith from Arabia, Nigel Wilson from New Zealand, Dawood A. Khan from the UAE and others participated in the congress.

More than 100 speakers presented papers in the congress. This congress is the largest meeting in the history of Pakistan, in which the largest number of foreign medical experts have participated. The Asia Pacific Pediatric Cardiac Society currently has 21 member countries. These countries include Pakistan, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Iran, Turkie and others. University of Child Health Sciences (UCSH) Vice Chancellor Prof Masood Sadiq has become the newly elected president of the Asia Pacific Pediatric Cardiac Society for the next two years. He also delivered the welcome address.

On this occasion, Vice Chancellor of the University of Child Health Sciences, Prof Masood Sadiq, faculty members and a large number of local and foreign medical experts attended. Prof Sajid Maqbool, Prof Tipu Sultan, Prof Junaid Rasheed, Prof Shazia Maqbool, Prof Huma Arshad Cheema and others were present.

Provincial Minister for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Khawaja Salman Rafique congratulated Prof Masood Sadiq and his entire team on organizing the Biennial Congress on a very important topic. He welcomed foreign medical experts in Pakistan. The Chief Minister’s Children’s Heart Surgery Programme is the flagship programme of the Punjab government. A special fund has been released for this programme, he added.

The provincial minister informed that 3,000 children have undergone cardiac surgery completely free of charge in the last three months, he added.