PESHAWAR: Pakistan Pediatrics Association has expressed concern over shortage of neonatologists in the country and has issued the country’s first-ever resuscitation guideline to put brakes on the mortalities of the newborns from avoidable medical issues. This was stated by senior pediatricians at the two-day workshop started at the postgraduate medical Institute Hayatabad, Peshawar, on Saturday. The event attended by 23 participants, all pediatricians, working in the government and private hospitals to receive training on
Child Rights in Focus
Pakistan’s education sector showed steady progress between 2022–23 and 2023–24, with enrolment rising by 4.8% to 47.87 million and nearly one million fewer out-of-school children. Most gains were driven by girls, narrowing the gender gap, while provincial performance varied across the country. The analysis highlights the need to improve retention and progression, especially for rural girls. For more insights, check out the full policy paper, Comparative Analysis: Pakistan Education Statistics 2022–23 & 2023–24.
KARACHI: The Sindh health department, in collaboration with the Haemophilia Welfare Society Karachi (HWSK), has launched the annual Hemophilia Prophylaxis Therapy programme for the fiscal year 2025–26 at the Haemophilia Treatment Centre in Nazimabad. The initiative was inaugurated by Dr Durenaz Jamal, Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority secretary. Under the programme, 42 children, including two with Haemophilia B, will receive regular prophylactic therapy to prevent life-threatening bleeds and complications. Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2025.
SUKKUR: The Sukkur bench of the Sindh High Court on October 17 ordered private schools to give 10 percent admissions to the children of financially constrained persons and provide them education free of cost. A two-member constitutional bench, comprising Justices Zulfiqar Ali Sangi and Riazat Ali Sahar, passed the order on a petition filed by Advocate Mehtab Ahmed Shar. The judges expressed displeasure at private schools’ failure to provide free education to children of
QUETTA: The son of the Assistant Commissioner (AC) Ziarat, who was kidnapped two months ago along with his father, has been safely recovered, police officials said. However, his father, Assistant Commissioner Ziarat Muhammad Afzal Baqi, is still missing, and authorities are making all-out efforts for his safe recovery. Police officials said that after his recovery, Mustansar Bilal, the son of assistant commissioner, reached the Zardalo area of Harnai, from where he was taken into protective custody
ISLAMABAD: The European Union on Friday reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Pakistan in raising the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18 years, as discussions at the 18th Annual Rural Women Leadership Training Conference concluded on October 17. The three-day event, organised by PODA in collaboration with Lok Virsa and supported by the EU and the embassy of Norway, brought together women leaders from across the country to advance gender equality and rural
GUJRAT: Gujrat Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Javed Akram Baitu awarded a 7-year jail term, and a Rs100,000 fine, to a woman accused of kidnapping and a newborn girl who later died, besides ordering payment of Rs8.1 million as Diyat to her parents. The Civil Lines police had registered a kidnapping case on the complaint of the newborn’s father, Shahbaz Ahmed, on July 9, 2024, following his daughter going missing from hospital after
ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on October 17 expressed concern over the lack of basic facilities in government-run educational institutions, student safety and the exorbitant fees charged by many private schools in Islamabad. As per regulations of Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (Peira), a school located in Islamabad can increase its fee by 5pc with a maximum of 8pc hike for higher performing institutions. However, due to the weak regulatory checks by Peira, parents have
GUJAR KHAN: A teenage student allegedly shot dead the driver of a school van at the school gate in Mandra town of Gujar Khan on October 17. Faizan Safeer, a resident of Jhaag village, reported to Mandra police that he was present at the school gate where his brother, Zeeshan Safeer, had parked his van to pick up students at about 12:15pm. According to the complainant, the suspect, also a student, came out with
Winter edges in and, like clockwork, Covid-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) step back into the spotlight. According to CNN, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expects 2025–26 peak hospitalisations from these viruses to be broadly similar to last season in the United States. Vaccines won’t block every infection, but they do make illness milder and help keep people out of hospitals. Doctors emphasise that shots blunt severity. “What I tell
KARACHI: A sessions court has handed down life imprisonment to two men in a case pertaining to a triple murder. Additional District and Sessions Judge (Central) Ghulam Abbas Memon found Tanveer and Amir guilty of killing three persons, including a nine-year-old boy, and wounding several others by opening an indiscriminate fire while they were travelling towards Sohrab Goth in 2013. The court also awarded them an additional five-year term for committing an offence under
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has observed that the menace of drugs was increasing day-by-day and it has become a great threat to a peaceful society as well as affecting many lives especially of youngsters. Therefore, the SHC said, immediate steps were required to be taken to curb these nefarious activities as the proceeds of narcotics were largely utilised in anti-state / terrorist activities, which the country had been facing since decades. A two-judge