PHC seals three labs

LAHORE: The Punjab Healthcare Commission on Wednesday sealed three laboratories for forging fake medical test reports by bogus labs.

PHC had received a report that travel agents had connived with a few testing laboratories to dupe intending visitors to the Gulf region. They were asked to go through different medical tests at specified labs prior to getting visas and proceeding abroad. To probe the matter, PHC teams carried out raids in Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi, where they sealed Universal Medical Lab (Allama Iqbal Town), Gulf Laboratory (Chungi 7) and Al-Azan Medical Diagnostic Centre (Saidpur Road) respectively. It was found that these so-called labs were not registered with the PHC with no equipment and qualified staff.

Neither any pathologist nor qualified staff was appointed to carry out even basic blood tests. Moreover, these centres did not have any authorisation from any of the Gulf countries. The record of these centres has been confiscated, and notices have been issued to carry out further proceedings against these labs.

Furniture stalls catch fire: Furniture worth lakhs of rupees were reduced to ashes when a massive fire broke out in furniture stalls in Baghwanpura police area here on Wednesday. At least 15 emergency vehicles of Rescue 1122 and 50 rescuers participated in the fire and rescue operation. Dozens of furniture stalls were gutted. People from nearby houses were evacuated due to heavy smoke.

The cause of the fire was unknown. No injuries or casualties were reported in the said incident. The fire was contained and controlled after four hours of hectic efforts. Stolen phone recovered: Railway has recovered stolen iPhone of Professor Khalid Mahmood, a British citizen of Pakistani origin.

Professor Khalid Mehmood's iPhone was stolen three years ago, when he was traveling from Hyderabad to Faisalabad in Millat Express and he went to UK without filing a report with the Railways Police. On his return from UK, in November 2022, he filed the report of theft of his mobile phone to the Railways Police Faisalabad, on which SHO Railways Faisalabad Ramzan Haider while taking immediate action recovered the mobile phone and handed it over to the passenger.

ACCIDENTS: At least eight persons were killed and 1,040 others injured in 994 road accidents in Punjab during the last 24 hours. As many as 568 seriously injured people were shifted to different hospitals while 472 with minor injuries were treated at the incident site by the rescue medical teams. The data analysis showed that 480 drivers, 33 underage drivers, 133 pedestrians, and 435 passengers were among the victims of the road crashes.

Drug dealer arrested: Manawan police arrested a drug dealer and recovered 10 kg charas from his possession. The accused was identified as Zeeshan. The accused used to supply charas to different areas of Lahore.