Health experts hold the Islamabad administration responsible for not taking stern action against vendors openly selling substandard food and drinks all over the city especially at bus stops, educational institutes and hospitals. Due to these, they say, every year a large number of people, especially children, fall prey to stomach-related diseases.

According to data collected from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), the hospital receives about 100 to 150 patients suffering from various gastrointestinal diseases including diarrhoea, typhoid, dysentery,  cholera, stomach worms, hepatitis A and E every day. Over 35 patients, on average, with similar complaints report to the outpatient department of the Polyclinic Hospital in a 24-hour span.

Polyclinic Hospital Spokesperson Dr Sharif Astori and Gastroenteritis Specialist at Pims Dr Waseem Khawaja, said summer is the peak season for the outbreak of gastrointestinal diseases. Therefore, there is a dire need to take precautionary measures before the beginning of the season and there should be a strict monitoring of the quality of food and drinks, the doctors said.

The outbreak of stomach diseases cannot be controlled until the city administration imposes a ban on the sale of unhygenic and sub-standard foods and drinks available everywhere in the city, said Dr Astori.

Moreover, Dr Narjis Kazmi from Children’s Hospital, Pims said, “In summers it is natural that children get attracted to coloured drinks and ice candy selling outside their schools or in the streets.” Vendors do not take precautionary steps while preparing ice candy, such as wearing plastic gloves or cleaning the machines they use to mash ice, she added.

Shahid, a vendor selling watermelon slices outside Polyclinic Hospital, said, “How can I afford to buy plastic gloves every day when my monthly income is not enough to bear my household expenses?”

When contacted, Islamabad District Health Officer Dr Azhar said, “The administration has imposed section 144  under which no one is allowed to sell sliced fruit and ice candy or other items in the capital or its suburbs.” The administration is strictly monitoring the sale and purchase of unhygienic food and drinks, he said adding that strict action will be taken against the people who will violate this law.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2012.

Samples from Muhammad Zain, a two and a half year old boy and a resident of Kurri Road, Phagwari, have been collected by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to test him for poliomyelitis. In 2007, eight polio cases were reported from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and since then the region has remained polio-free.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Saeed Ahmed, Zain’s father said his son stopped walking 20 days ago. He took his son to the doctor who recommended that Zain should be tested for polio. Ahmed is employed as a driver in Islamabad and has three children. Zain is his second-born and has never missed a polio vaccine.

“I also took him to Shifa International Hospital where the doctor prescribed laboratory tests,” he said. Zain has no travel history; his movement is restricted between Phagwari and F-10 sector.

Sources in Polio Virology Laboratory at NIH said it will take around two weeks for the results to arrive. He said basic symptoms of polio virus is high-grade fever and signs of weakness or periodic paralysis in the lower limbs of the body. But it is important to note that the symptoms are similar to those of 200 diseases.

It is clinically impossible to diagnose polio and only one laboratory at NIH is equipped to detect polio cases across the country. When contacted, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Amir Ali Ahmed expressed ignorance about the suspected case.

Poilio vaccines procurement in doldrums

Meanwhile, in a National Steering Committee (NSC) meeting held on Friday in the Committee Hall of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) expressed concern over the delay in forwarding a proposal for funding the procurement of polio vaccines by the Economic Affairs Division (EAD).

The EAD was supposed to forward a proposal of $24 million to the Islamic Development Bank to fund the procurement of polio vaccines. It is feared that this delay may cause a serious crisis of polio vaccines in 2013 in Pakistan as the government has done nothing in this regard.

The meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani and Secretary of Inter-Provincial Coordination Anisul Hasnain Musavi, representatives of WHO, Unicef, Jica, Rotary International and World Bank were present at the occasion.

The participants also expressed concern over the outbreak of measles in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Tribal representatives said five children have been severely affected with measles whose condition is serious and they are admitted in a hospital in Miramshah. They demanded the federal government to assist in launching special immunisation campaign to control the situation.

It was also highlighted in the meeting that there is an outbreak of measles in Balochistan, where eight districts have been affected and 600 cases have been reported.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2012.

Despite the hot weather, a huge crowd turned up at the festival that was organised by the Special Education and Social Welfare Division, in collaboration with Plan Pakistan.

People with disabilities and their families were seen enjoying the various activities organised at the event, which included dance performances, singing competitions, magic and puppet shows, among others.

Like other children, Zamaan, 13, was full of life and enjoying the festival with one of his friends, Umer Faheem, who was on a wheelchair.

“I already had one plate of gol gappas in the morning which cost Rs50 and I’m now left with no money to eat more or to go on the swings,” said Zaman, 13, who is physically challenged from birth. “My father is a drug addict and I did not want to take money from him but he insisted because he wanted me to have fun which I usually miss out on,” he added.

Dressed in a suit, Suleman, 12, who is visually impaired, was excited about taking part in a naat competition. “It is the very first time in my life I have enjoyed so much; I had an ice cream, went on the swings and now I want to recite naat,” he said.

Moreover, 10-year-old Attaul Qadir, who is mentally-challenged, sang ‘Aj kala jora pa’ and received a big round of applause from the audiences. He is apprenticed with a carpenter and wants to be a singer in future.

Visually-impaired children presented a dance performance on ‘Aay Jawan’. The performance forced Abdullah, eight, who was in a wheelchair, to try to dance to the beat but he could not do it as his lower body is paralysed. “It is a great moment for me to see my son enjoying like this. After neurosurgery paralysed his body, I have always seen him depressed,” said his mother Shaista*.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Director General Special Education Mustafain Kazmi said the idea behind organising this event was to erase the sense of discrimination among children with disabilities. “In this festival, they are free from the fear of being stared at by people who make them feel they are from another planet,” he said.

Kazmi said the event was planned to give them an opportunity to showcase their hidden talent and prove themselves.

*Name changed to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2012.

Health experts hold the Islamabad administration responsible for not taking stern action against vendors openly selling substandard food and drinks all over the city especially at bus stops, educational institutes and hospitals. Due to these, they say, every year a large number of people, especially children, fall prey to stomach-related diseases.

According to data collected from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), the hospital receives about 100 to 150 patients suffering from various gastrointestinal diseases including diarrhoea, typhoid, dysentery,  cholera, stomach worms, hepatitis A and E every day. Over 35 patients, on average, with similar complaints report to the outpatient department of the Polyclinic Hospital in a 24-hour span.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Polyclinic Hospital Spokesperson Dr Sharif Astori and Gastroenteritis Specialist at Pims Dr Waseem Khawaja, said summer is the peak season for the outbreak of gastrointestinal diseases.

Therefore, there is a dire need to take precautionary measures before the beginning of the season and there should be a strict monitoring of the quality of food and drinks, the doctors said.

The outbreak of stomach diseases cannot be controlled until the city administration imposes a ban on the sale of unhygenic and sub-standard foods and drinks available everywhere in the city, said Dr Astori.

He added vendors use contaminated water for preparing food and drinks. “Moreover, they wash plates and spoons in the same dirty container throughout the day which contributes to the spread of infectious diseases.”

Moreover, Dr Narjis Kazmi from Children’s Hospital, Pims said, “In summers it is natural that children get attracted to coloured drinks and ice candy selling outside their schools or in the streets.”

Vendors do not take precautionary steps while preparing ice candy, such as wearing plastic gloves or cleaning the machines they use to mash ice, she added.

Shahid, a vendor selling watermelon slices outside Polyclinic Hospital, said, “How can I afford to buy plastic gloves every day when my monthly income is not enough to bear my household expenses?”

He claimed he changes the water twice a day as it is difficult to get it.

“The plates used by my customers do not get very dirty and dipping them once in water is enough to clean them.”

When contacted, Islamabad District Health Officer Dr Azhar said, “The administration has imposed section 144  under which no one is allowed to sell sliced fruit and ice candy or other items in the capital or its suburbs.” The administration is strictly monitoring the sale and purchase of unhygienic food and drinks, he said adding that strict action will be taken against the people who will violate this law.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2012.

According to the information gathered from the rural health centre (RHC) in Bhara Kahu, 24 patients out of these 70 have been registered and are currently under treatment.

Talking to The Express Tribune, a senior health official in RHC appointed to conduct a research on this disease, who wished not to be named, said the majority of victims are children and women because sand flies live in cracks of the walls inside houses.

“People were first bitten by the sand fly last April but cases were reported this month,” he said. The main reason behind the delay is that the residents of this area are illiterate and they tried to treat the disease with home remedies or medicated creams. Besides this, some patients are reluctant to register themselves with the RHC, he added.

The disease is more common in rural areas and it spreads like dengue fever as it is caused by a parasite that transfers to humans through the bite of an infected fly. The bite causes a single or multiple sores all over the body. The sores take months or almost a year to heal and leave scars on the body. If left untreated, they can result in serious complications, affecting internal organs, particularly the spleen and the liver. Therefore to control its spread it is very important to keep the infected person away from all sand flies, he said.

The majority cannot afford the treatment as one injection costs Rs400 which needs to be nursed continuously for 20 days.

The government does not provide injections for this disease, therefore the World Health Organisation (WHO) has given 200 injections, said another official. However, these injections are insufficient considering the number of patients, he added.

Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Amir Ali Ahmed said, “The administration lacks the expertise to control the spread of this disease because it is new, but various surveys have been undertaken along with fumigation in the area.”

It has affected many people and the administration is making all-out efforts for their treatment, Ahmed added.

According to the WHO this is a poverty-related disease. Malnutrition, displacement, poor housing, illiteracy, gender discrimination, weakness of the immune system and lack of resources are factors which contribute to its spread.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2012.

“It was the worst day of my life when my mother asked me to wear a bridal dress and get ready for my nikah via telephone with a man I had never met or seen,” Shiza, now a domestic worker in Islamabad, told The Express Tribune.

Then a 16-year-old student, she said her mother threatened to commit suicide if she refused the proposal. “I was forced to marry a 30-year-old man who had never even been to school,” she said.

Like her elder sisters, she faced domestic violence from in-laws, and later her children faced similar beatings.

Ten years later, she got divorced, but her husband took their children.

“I wanted to become a doctor but my dreams were shattered, now I have no life and no hopes,” she said.

On every Mother’s Day, we honor mothers and celebrate motherhood, however on this day, there is a need to create awareness about those core issues affecting mothers. Among many others, discouraging early marriages is one of them, said Natasha Sajjad, assistant programme officer at the World Population Fund (WPF).

Sajjad said a direct consequence of marrying while young is early childbirth and greater vulnerability to related complications, especially morbidities such as fistula, post-partum hemorrhage, sepsis and hypertensive disorder due to biological and psychological factors.

Early marriage compromises the development of girls as it marks the end of their education. Ill-equipped to face livelihood demands, they are required to perform heavy amounts of domestic work and other duties. Besides this, contraceptive prevalence is also extremely low among married adolescents and they are more likely to experience domestic violence, she said.

Rights activist Samar Minallah said that in our society, young people often fall victim to the values and customs followed by the older generation.

“She becomes a victim of emotional blackmail. Though parents would rarely want to deliberately hurt their children, in the case of early marriages they end up ruining the child’s life forever,” she said.

Qudsia Mehmood, a clinical psychologist, said marrying a girl at an age when she is struggling to accept changes during puberty is like destroying her physically and psychologically. This leads to depression, anxiety and lack of confidence, which later affect their children as they suffer from mental illness, become sensitive or hyperactive.

Shedding more light ont he issue, Aqsa Khan, executive director of Women’s Organisation for Rights and Development, said, a large number of women are married of at an early age due to social, cultural and patriarchal traditional requirements. These child marriages are a punishable crime, she added.

Just days ahead of Mothers Day, Natasha Sajjad summed up the problem. “Stepping into motherhood is a cause of celebration, but as an adult, not an adolescent.”

*Names changed to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2012.

However, some like Abia Akram, 28, break the shackles.

Akram has become the first ever Pakistani woman with disability to be nominated as the Coordinator for Commonwealth Young Disabled People’s Forum and Global Coordinator at Global Network of Emerging Women Leader, Disabled People’s International.

Born with physical disability into a middle-class family in Islamabad, she began her education at a centre for persons with disabilities and is currently pursuing her Masters in Gender Policy at University of Warwick on the British Chevening scholarship.

She is a harbinger of hope for people, especially women with disabilities in the country. “In a society where women with disabilities are mostly considered a liability, my achievements have proven that they (the women) can leave their mark in any field,” she said.

Akram also served as National Forum of Women with Disability chairperson, Asia Pacific Network of Independent Living Pioneer member and Capital Independent Living Centre project manager. She has been engaged in the activities of Disability Movement since 1997.

“A group of 15 young disabled persons, on our personal initiative, gathered in Islamabad with a mission to break barriers of social exclusion and develop role models for society,” she said. The group had suffered a range of harsh experiences in their lives from the start of education to earning livelihood, she added.

She further said that even though Pakistan has ratified UN Convention on disability rights, it could not implement them effectively. “Being one of them, I want to give a voice to women with disabilities and I guess I got on the right platform,” she said.

Her elder brother Mohammad Atif who himself is physically disabled said, “No doubt the government has framed various policies for persons with disabilities, but despite these efforts, most people with disabilities remain completely un-served and are facing difficulty in living with dignity in their respective communities.

This is also the reason why Atif is so proud of what his sister has achieved. It’s a big honour for the family and for the whole nation, a women facing a triple handicap– due to her disability, gender and belonging a developing country– is excelling in her field,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2012.

The cause of his death was hepatorenal syndrome, according to a member of the team which performed the surgery, requesting anonymity.

Baloch had recovered after the surgery but developed some complications. He underwent a second operation on May 7, during which his hepatic artery was ruptured which resulted in renal failure.

Pims spokesperson Dr Waseem Khawaja, however, said Baloch, 36, was put on the ventilator on May 7 after he died and on May 8, he was pronounced dead. “His body was immediately handed over to his family on Tuesday night.”

When asked to comment on the cause of the patient’s death, he said, “It is too early to say what caused Baloch’s death, but he died due to complications.”

Dr Khawaja claimed that the surgery cost around Rs5 million which was donated by the government. Baloch came from Khuzdar, Balochistan and was the first patient to receive a live donor liver transplant at the hospital’s Liver Transplant Centre on May 2.

Baloch underwent surgery after his wife donated a portion of her liver. He was suffering from hepatitis B which developed into chronic liver disease.

The surgery, carried out by a team of British and Pakistani surgeons, started early morning on May 2 and ended at 2am the next day.

After the surgery, the staff, somehow, failed to administer medicines, including antibiotic injections, to Baloch on time, which annoyed the British surgeon, said sources in the centre.

The team of local surgeons did not have a single qualified liver surgeon. The one heading the unit is a general surgeon.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2012.

This was revealed in a quarterly report on polio alert issued by the WHO on Tuesday. The report comes on the heels of new polio case — Pakistan’s 16th this year — emerging in Khyber Agency.

According to the report, 26 samples tested positive for polio including seven out of 12 sewage samples collected from Lahore, seven out of eight in Peshawar, four out of seven in Gadap Town in Karachi, two out of four in Rawalpindi and two out of seven in Quetta.

Last year, 21 out of 24 samples tested positive for polio virus in Karachi’s Gadap Town, 19 out of 36 in Lahore, 21 out of 36 in Multan and 11 out of 12 in Rawalpindi.

The positive samples indicate that the virus is circulating in the area even if no one has been paralysed by polio there yet, stated the report.

Chief of the Polio Control Unit at WHO, Dr Elias Durry, said, “Selection of inappropriate vaccinators from outside of the community, cultural barriers and heavy migration from tribal belts and the Quetta block, as indicated by a genetic analysis of isolated virus from environmental samples, play a role in aggravating the situation.” He added, “Most importantly, however, it is the lack of basic infrastructure and proper sewerage systems that expose children to the risk of polio.”

Dr Durry said they are working with partners for implementation of basic sanitary services in areas where polio is present. They have also changed their strategy to hire local female volunteers from the community to help the residents themselves take ownership of polio eradication education, awareness and vaccination activities. He added, “The only way to rid a country of polio is to ensure that each and every child is immunised against polio during every polio round.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2012.

According to the Prime Minister’s Monitoring and Coordination Cell for Polio Eradication report, the new case has been reported from Sara Dand village of Tehsil Bara in Khyber Agency.  Khyber is one of the high-risk areas where vaccination teams have been prohibited access since September 2009, when the military operation began.

This time, the victim is one year-old Iqra, who has been paralysed since April 1 this year.

Task Force meeting

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Shahnaz Wazir Ali expressed her concern over the failure of the Pakistan Polio Eradication programme to achieve goals envisaged in the National Polio Emergency Plan.

At the third National Task Force meeting held at the PM Secretariat on Monday, Ali said that the results of the campaign were certainly not encouraging.

Officials familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune that the only goal accomplished by the PM’s Polio Monitoring and Coordination Cell since the last meeting was the appointment of Ali as the PM’s focal person on polio eradication. Other than that, no other directives have been fully implemented.

One of the prime minister’s earlier orders was that the governor and chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ensure that plans to eradicate polio are prepared for all union councils.

However, this could not be implemented in any tribal agency due to inaccessibility.

It had also been decided in the last meeting that lawmakers, both on the federal and provincial level, were to be made part of polio campaigns.

“However, the response from parliamentarians has not been encouraging,” an official quoted Ali as saying in Monday’s meeting. The prime minister was also told that funds for polio eradication have not been mobilised, but a new ‘media strategy’ is in the pipeline to counter negative reporting on polio.

(WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING FROM MAHWISH QAYYUM IN PESHAWAR)

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2012.