Health dept to expand cooperation in mother, child programme

LAHORE: The Punjab Health Department and British Department of International Development (DFID) have agreed upon expanding cooperation in the mother and child healthcare programme.

DFID Lahore head Jinal Shah called on Punjab Health Secretary Saqib Zafar here on Wednesday. The secretary apprised the British representative of priorities of Punjab government in health sector and said that under the 100-day programme, emergencies of all hospitals were being focused. “Health Department was also working on introducing mid-term and long-term reforms in the health sector”, said the health secretary. He said that recently a useful consultative workshop was held to formulate new health policy. “Recommendations and suggestions forwarded by eminent experts would be considered to formulate a long-lasting health policy” said Saqib Zafar.

He expressed his satisfaction over concrete support from international partners like USAID, DFID and UNICEF and lauded their cooperation particularly in strengthening the provision of health facilities in Punjab.

DFID Lahore head Jinal Shah said DFID wanted to strengthen health infrastructure in Punjab and the mother and child programme was its focus. “We are pleased that Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid was moving ahead in a right way to achieve certain targets in reforming health sector” said the British representative.

consortium: Punjab University and University of Health Sciences in collaboration with other institutions will establish molecular biology consortium.

In this regard, University of Health Sciences’ Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Javed Akram called upon PU Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad, Centre of Excellence for Molecular Biology Prof Dr Tayyab Husnain, National Distinguished Professor Prof Dr S Riazuddin and others were present on the occasion.

The PU VC told the meeting that the idea of the establishment of MBC was receiving a wide recognition by the scientists, clinicians, researchers, academicians on national and international level and civil society at large, as the new inventions will be available to the general public on cost effective basis to lessen the suffering of a common man in health sector.

It was decided that a meeting of all the members will be held in the last week of the month to evaluate the implementation of decisions in the first meeting and to take further steps to place the consortium on a firm footing. The next MBC meeting will specifically devise and finalise details of stem cell production for clinical use.

Prof Dr Javed Akram suggested that all participating institutions submit research projects proposals to HEC/PSF for financial approval to facilitate the execution of work plan of the consortium.

PFA: Punjab Food Authority (PFA) on Wednesday seized a huge amount of rotten eggs worth millions of rupees while carrying out an operation in Chichawatni. Following a tip-off, the PFA team raided a cold store and recovered as many as 126,000 rotten and spoiled eggs, said PFA Director General Capt (R) Muhammad Usman.

PFA has registered a case against the cold store owner in the respective police station. The DG said all confiscated rotten eggs to be discarded as per the environmental protection principles. He said mostly rotten eggs were to be use in the preparations of bakery items.

He said it was strictly prohibited to store hatchery’s eggs in cold stores as per the policy which released regarding rotten eggs. PFA would take strict action against cold stores in case of non-compliance with authority’s instructions.

results: Punjab University Examinations Department has declared the results of MA Archaeology Part-I annual examination 2018, MA Punjabi Part-I annual examination 2018, MA Diplomacy & Strategic Studies Part-I annual examination 2018 and MSc Tourism & Hospital Management Part-I annual examination 2018. Detailed results are also available at PU website www.pu.edu.pk.

quackery businesses sealed: The Punjab Healthcare Commission on Wednesday sealed 56 quackery businesses.

PHC teams inspected 266 treatment centres in 11 cities, including Lahore. They checked 27 centres in Faisalabad, 26 each in Bahawalpur and Sargodha, 25 in Jampur, 24 in Sheikhupura and 23 each were in the rest of the cities. Ten quackery businesses were sealed in Gujranwala, eight in Sahiwal, seven in Faisalabad, six in Sargodha and five each in Multan and Sheikhupura. The Commission has closed down over 17,000 businesses of quacks since the launch of its anti-quackery campaign in July 2015.