Financial issues facing DNA and serology lab to be resolved: home minister

Sindh Caretaker Home Minister Brigadier (retd) Haris Nawaz has said that the caretaker provincial government will resolve all the financial issues related to the Sindh Forensic DNA and Serology Laboratory (SFDL) of Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (PCMD), University of Karachi.

He was speaking in a meeting held at the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, on Friday.

Earlier, Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Mehmood Iraqi, Prof Dr Atta-ur Rahman, professor emeritus and former federal minister for science and Ttechnology, and Director ICCBS Prof Dr Farzana Shaheen received the government’s high officials at the ICCBS. The meeting was also attended by human rights activist Fouzia Tariq and other officials of the ICCBS.

Nawaz said all the remaining amount of government funds would soon be released so that the SFDL could continue its DNA and serology testing services swiftly.

In the meeting, Prof Farzana Shaheen and SFDL In-charge and Project Director Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan gave a presentation about the activities related to the international centre and the Sindh Forensic DNA and Serology Laboratory. Prof Shaheen highlighted the financial issues being faced by the ICCBS and the SFDL.

The home minister praised the industrial support and national services of the international centre and vowed full support from the government for this premier research institution of Pakistan. He also showed his satisfaction with the volunteer services of the SFDL during disasters in which DNA-based identification of bodies is needed.

The delegation was informed that as many as 7,250 DNA and serology cases have been analyzed at the SFDL from 2019 to 2023. The delegation was also informed that the Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC), Islamabad, the Federal Ministry of Science & Technology, has recently awarded a ‘Certification of Accreditation’ to the SFDL. After getting the ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation from the PNAC, the SFDL has become the first forensic laboratory in Sindh to attain this prestigious recognition.

The SFDL was established in 2019 through the financial support of the Department of Health, Government of Sindh, as the official service provider for the law and order agencies of the province.

At the end, the home minister along with the Karachi University’s vice chancellor also paid a visit to the lab.