To develop greater collaboration between healthcare experts and the media....
To develop greater collaboration between healthcare experts and the media, The Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) organised the first ever Health Media Conference in partnership with the Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications in Kenya.
Veteran journalist Muhammad Ziauddin gave a keynote address in which he talked about the need for specialised skills training for health reporters to strengthen the information provided to the public. “Every beat [of journalistic reporting] has its own peculiar language. Health reporters need specific training.”
The conference featured panels on health trends, preventative health measures and social taboos that arise in healthcare settings. Leading doctors in women’s health, children’s health, heart disease, family medicine, kidney and bladder disease, mental health, infectious diseases and other areas shared information with the media on where they see a great need for awareness amongst the public and what trends they are noticing in Pakistan. The rise in psychosocial issues, adolescent health issues, heart disease amongst children, water-borne diseases was discussed.
AKUH doctors spoke about major research projects underway and collaboration with the government in training public healthcare worker and hospital administrators, and making health services accessible across the country.
The conference also served as discussion platform for journalists and healthcare providers to determine how to overcome challenges in making health information available and report in stories of health.
The famous love story of Heer Ranjha, originally written by Waris Shah, has been adapted for enactment as Daastan-e-Ishq. The play has been flavoured with our traditions and live music and depicts the popular folklore surrounding Heer and Ranjha who meet at a wedding and fall in love at first sight. Love blooms, but catastrophe strikes in the shape of the evil uncle Qaido, who is determined to thwart their romance.
The fabulous performance by the cast Umair Rafiq as Ranjha, Sabiha Zia as Heer, and the antagonist Sameer Hussain as Qaido, narration by Akbar Ladhani as Raavi, executed in collaboration with Green Eye Production, and directed by Zarqa Naz took the audience on a historical journey to Punjab.
Speaking on this occasion, Umair Rafiq of Green Eye Production, an entertainment house for theatre, films and TV the primary aim of which is to promote theatrical culture, said, “I want to make my country proud by becoming a trend-setter and promoting our traditions, content, culture, and its people, not just within the country, but abroad as well.”
The play will be running for public at Arts Council Auditorium, Karachi till July 8.
By SZ
