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30-tonne adulterated honey seized in raid

By our correspondents
May 24, 2017

LAHORE

Punjab Food Authority (PFA) seized 30 tonnes of adulterated honey from a factory of a famous herbal company on Tuesday after which it was decided that all honey manufacturers will be checked. 

The PFA officials said the raid was carried out late at night under the supervision of PFA director general in Manawan area. They said it was found that the famous herbal industry was mixing industrial grade colour in honey while the packing area was extremely unhygienic. They said spider webs were present everywhere in the hall while honey was stored in prohibited blue drums.

After the raid, Noorul Amin Mengal, PFA DG, directed his field teams to inspect every honey manufacturing factory in the province. 

Meanwhile, a PFA team sealed famous BYOB café in Gulberg for unhygienic cleanliness conditions, presence of flies in fried items and use of expired oil for frying. It was found that no expiry date was mentioned in various products of the café.

research: Researchers, academicians and health professionals from around the country have agreed on five-year National Health Research Agenda (2017-2022), which identifies 18 key areas related to health in which research should be carried out. 

In a colloquium organised by the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Tuesday, experts and representatives from various health institutions, universities and accrediting bodies including Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) and Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC), reached a consensus on the areas where health research was most needed. The agenda will be circulated among stakeholders including higher education institutions, research organisations, regulators and policymakers and will be implemented after incorporating their recommendations.

The priority areas identified in the research agenda include: (i) genetics including congenital defects and parental screening  and counselling; (ii) reproductive health such as maternal health; (iii) child health including prenatal and neonatal, childhood areas such as birth asphyxia, sepsis, diarrhea, growth retardation, prematurity and nutritional deficiencies; (iv) autism; (v) communicable diseases such as polio, HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, dengue and hepatitis, infection control; (vi) non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, cardio vascular diseases, injury prevention; (vii) mental health including depression, anxiety, suicide and substance abuse; (viii) malignancies especially breast cancer, colorectal carcinoma and hematological malignancies in children; (ix) oral health, promotion and diseases prevention including oral cancers, facial defects, oral infections and oral systemic connection; (x) One Health, social and environmental determinants of health, food and animal linkages to human health, high altitude medicine and social taboos; (xi) health professionals education and researcher’s capacity development; (xii) quality assurance and improvement including quality care and quality assurance of labs; (xiii) advance technology including biotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, telemedicine, molecular medicine, tissue engineering; (xiv) health systems and health policy research including surveillance and mapping, rapid preparedness, disaster management, human resource for health, health leadership, health education promotion to public (schools, madrassas, mosques) and normal health data base;  (xv) extremism and terrorism; (xvi) transfusion and transplantation medicine; (xvii) preventing health at different levels, biosafety, development of vaccines and antibiotics; (xviii) and occupational health.

The initial draft of the agenda was prepared by Prof Khalid Pervaiz Lone (Physiology), Prof Nadeem Afzal (Immunology), Dr Asima Kareem (Physiology), Dr Saqib Mehmood (Molecular Biology), Dr Shah Jahan (Immunology), Dr Saba Khaliq (Molecular Biology), Dr Saima Ch (Oral Pathology), Prof Asghar Naqi (Surgery), Prof Sajid Nisar (Medicine), Prof Humayun Iqbal Khan (Paediatrics), Prof Zohra Khanum (Obs & Gynae), Prof Ayesha Arif (Paediatrics), Prof Waheed ul Hameed (Orthodontics), Prof Shazia Maqbool (Behavioural Paediatrics), Prof Mohsin Gillani, (Surgery), Prof Khursheed Ahmed Khan(Medicine), Prof Sajid Nisar (Neurology) and Dr Usman Jawad (Family Medicine).

The Chairman, Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC), Prof Dr Muhammad Nizamuddin, who was the chief guest on this occasion, said the importance of health research has been recognised at all levels.

“This is the first time a national health research agenda is going to be formulated to address the issue of health research which endorses its role within a knowledge-based economy”, he said while appreciating the efforts of UHS in this regard.

He said funds up to Rs 3.00 million per project were available with PHEC and urged the researchers to come up with new proposals.

UHS Vice Chancellor, Prof Dr Junaid Sarfraz Khan, said the basic objective of the whole exercise was to divert the attention of the researchers and scholars from “petty research” to “meaningful research” so that public could benefit.

“The agenda emphasises a partnership approach to developing a thriving research culture in the health services, a partnership between health agencies, universities, and the healthcare industry”, he said.

UHS VC added it would maximise the returns on investments in health research through creation of a proper health research system to prioritise, coordinate and facilitate conduct of effective and ethical research and its translation into products, policies and programmes aimed at improving health especially of the vulnerable population.

Prof Junaid said that efforts should be made to foster inter-sectoral coordination in health research including all departments within the government, private sector and the academia to promote innovation and ensure effective translation to encourage indigenous production of diagnostics, vaccine, therapeutics and medical devices.

“The agenda will be implemented through a consensus wherein all research agencies and health sciences universities identify priority areas of research and coordinate with each other to avoid duplication, fragmentation, redundancy and gaps in knowledge, to enable the results of research to transform health as a major driving force for development. He asked researchers to form WhatsApp groups and sub-groups to collaborate in research.

Former Vice Chancellor of Women University, Rawalpindi, Prof Dr Najma Najam and consultant to HEC on National Higher Education Research Framework Muhammad Adeel Anwar spoke on the occasion.