Sindh Assembly unanimously condemns Peshawar mosque blast

The Sindh Assembly on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution to condemn the recent bomb blast at a mosque in Police Lines in Peshawar that took lives of scores of people.

The resolution was moved by female legislator of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Nida Khuhro and expressed a firm resolve on behalf of the ruling PPP that it would not accept terrorism in any form in the country.

The resolution expressed solidarity with the families of the bomb blast victims and also prayed for the earliest recovery of the people who were injured in the gruesome terrorist activity that had occurred on January 30.

The content of the resolution was also read out in the House by a woman legislator, Raana Ansar of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P). Both the treasury and opposition legislators lent support to adopt the resolution.

Mental health

Meanwhile, the House was informed that lately there had been an increase in the patients of mental illnesses coming to hospitals in the province. This was disclosed by Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho as she responding to verbal and written queries of the concerned legislators during the question hour of the House.

The health minister said the recent phenomenal increase in inflation in the country was the main cause behind the recent rise in the mental health cases. She said the immediate members of the family of such patients had to also suffer gravely due to depression and other mental health problems of their loved ones in their home.

She claimed that every district headquarters hospital in the province provided services to treat cases of mental health. She added that paramedical staff would also be given training to treat the people suffering from mental health problems.

The health minister informed the concerned legislators that the Sindh government would hire the services of psychologists for providing mental health treatment at the district-level. She disclosed that the Sindh government would launch a special mental health programme for residents of the province centred at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in Karachi.

She said that cases of domestic violence had also occurred due to mental issues. Dr Azra told the Sindh Assembly that the province had two forensic laboratories facilities for DNA testing of the samples —one in Karachi and the other in Jamshoro.

She explained that the Sindh government also provided grant for conducting research work by scientists and medical professionals in the fields related to health care. She informed the concerned lawmakers that some 23,000 cases of dengue fever had been reported in the province in last one year with 16,000 of these cases belonging to Karachi.

She said the provincial health department had conducted an awareness campaign to motivate the people to adopt due precautionary measures against the dengue epidemic. The health minister told the House that some 62 people had lost their lives due to dengue in December 2022 while during the last month, eight persons had died due to the viral disease. She said the current season was not favourable for the spread of dengue.