BAHAWALNAGAR: Scores of citizens and the family of a five-year-old boy who allegedly died due to medical negligence staged a protest on July 30 outside the emergency department of the Minchinabad Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital, accusing the hospital staff of causing the child’s death. Speaking to the media, the child’s father, Hamza, said his son, Mohsin, had been suffering only from flu and a mild fever since Tuesday night. He alleged that after they
Child Rights in Focus
CHAKWAL: A minor girl and two teenagers were allegedly sexually assaulted in separate incidents, while two suspects were arrested by the police after an alleged shoot-out, police sources said on July 30. A ten-year-old girl along with her five-year-old sister used to go to a mosque in Munara village of tehsil Kallar Kahar for taking Quranic lessons by the prayer leader. The father of the victim told the police that on July 28, the
KARACHI: Amid growing concern over the HIV outbreaks, affecting nearly hundred children at two government-run hospitals in Karachi, Sindh Labour Minister Saeed Ghani held an important meeting with labour leaders on July 30, where he promised a series of measures to rebuild their trust and clear up public doubts about the government competency in handling the crisis and meeting needs of the affected children and their families. The meeting came after the government admitted that
ISLAMABAD: Quality education should not only focus on academic excellence but also equip children with practical life skills, including critical thinking, effective communication, problem-solving and informed decision-making, enabling them to become responsible and productive citizens. This was stated by Federal Education Secretary Nadeem Mahbub during the launching ceremony of Grade IV Digital Life Skills-Based Education (LSBE) Learning Management System (LMS) Pilot in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). He described the digitisation of the Grade IV
ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on July 29 expressed concern over the different ages determined for marriage by the federal and provincial governments and directed the Ministry of Human Rights to adopt stringent measures to make the marriage age identical throughout the country by taking all provinces into confidence. The meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights was held at the Parliament House, with MNA Asiya Naz Tanoli presiding over the meeting.
THE HIV infections detected around two SESSI-run hospitals in Karachi demand far more than another hurried committee and a seven-day report. Ten people have tested positive near the Landhi facility, while screening around Valika Hospital has identified 120 cases, including children. These figures do not by themselves prove hospital transmission; epidemiological links must be established carefully. Yet the detection of cases among particularly vulnerable patients, combined with concerns about reused syringes, poorly sterilised instruments,
THE floods are visiting us again. The death toll will be counted within days. The damage to roads, bridges and embankments will be tallied within weeks and translated into a dollar figure. Expect this assessment to dominate the coverage. It is legitimate but a wrong ledger regardless. The real casualty of this flood, and the one before it, and the one before that, is not standing in the rubble. It is sitting in a
ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Health Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Bharath on Wednesday warned that Pakistan’s population could reach 400 million by 2040, stressing that public awareness and individual responsibility were essential to address the country’s rapid population growth. Speaking at a ceremony at the Basic Health Unit (BHU) in Tarlai, Dr Bharath said effective measures for maternal and child healthcare and family planning had become an urgent national priority. He added that Prime Minister
PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mohammad Sohail Afridi has directed the chairmen of all education boards to immediately initiate a process to de-affiliate those high and higher secondary schools, which are not registered with Private Schools Regulatory Authority (PSRA). The chief minister is controlling authority of all boards of intermediate and secondary education in the province. The elementary and secondary education department has conveyed the directives of chief minister to all education boards in
MOHMAND: More than 119,000 children, including 73,000 girls, remained out-of-school in Mohmand tribal district, prompting the education department to intensify its enrollment campaign aimed at bringing every school-age child into classrooms. Mohmand district education officer (DEO) Midrarullah disclosed the figures while addressing a one-day capacity-building workshop for teachers at the Government Higher Secondary School Ghalanai on Tuesday. “Even a single child left out of the education system can have far-reaching consequences for society,” he
KARACHI: An eight-year-old boy has recently died of rabies at the Badin campus of Indus Hospital, officially known as Dr Sikandar Ali Mandhro Civil Hospital, raising the total recorded deaths from the deadly infectious disease to 19, it emerged on July 28. An informed source said it’s the first rabies case at the facility. A total of 17 cases have so far been reported this year at two key tertiary care hospitals; 11 at
• Pakistan claims virus eradication is within reach as cases have dropped sharply • Informs Independent Monitoring Board that virus footprint is narrowing, but concentrated in most difficult geographies now ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has told the global Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) that the country has entered a decisive phase in its decades-long fight against polio, claiming the virus has been pushed into a shrinking number of high-risk areas, while cautioning that persistent insecurity in southern