Worsening smog situation in Lahore: LHC orders closure of markets, restaurants by 10pm

LAHORE: Lahore High Court Justice Shahid Karim on Wednesday directed the authorities to close markets and restaurants by 10pm in Lahore to control smog.

The court issued the orders on a petition seeking the court’s orders to control worsening smog in the City. The court in its orders stated that the restaurants be allowed to close at 11pm on weekends.

The court also ordered that the schools opening on Fridays be sealed and directed the education department to strictly implement its orders by continuous monitoring.During the hearing, the court was suggested to close the markets on Sunday.

However, it put off the suggestion for now. The hearing has been adjourned till December 19. It is pertinent to mention here that last week, the Punjab government while following the orders of the same court had issued a notification directing closure of schools and offices in Lahore for additional two days, Friday and Saturday weekly due to the worsening smog situation in the City.

‘Child screening: Bright of the country depends on physically strong children as healthy young generation can play an effective role in economic development. In order to protect these kids from various diseases and prevent medical complications, their complete screening is necessary to know the early hereditary and viral infections to ensure their effective treatment as well. These views were expressed by Post Graduate Medical Institute Principal Prof Dr Al-Fareed Zafar while addressing the seminar organised in Lahore General Hospital about “Congenital Cytomegalovirus” and the effectiveness of maternal and child screening. On this occasion, Infectious Disease Expert from USA Prof. Mubeen Hussain Rathore made a special presence and informed the participants about the modern diagnostic methods and other technical aspects of the virus.

In the seminar, Prof Muhammad Ashraf Sultan, Prof. Muhammad Shahid, Prof. Muhammad Faheem Afzal, MS LGH Dr Khalid bin Aslam, Dr Abdul Aziz, Dr Aftab Anwar, Dr Nadia Arshad, Dr Sonia Ayub and a large number of gynecologists and pediatrics participated from various public and private hospitals.

Principal PGMI while welcoming infectious disease expert Dr Mubeen Hussain from University of Florida on his arrival at LGH said that although the local doctors are fully skilled in terms of their abilities and professional skills however, there are more opportunities available to learn from experts related to the health sector of modern developed countries. He added that it is a good thing that the doctors living overseas can help their compatriots to run by their side. He said that they come to Pakistan for training and updating their knowledge, which keeps local doctors aware of the developments and new inventions in the modern medical world, which ultimately helps in improving the treatment of patients.

Medical experts said a complete check-up/screening of a mother and a child after delivery is important for timely treatment of complications and diagnosis of various types of diseases and, increasing awareness is appreciable.