Awareness about brain tumour among general public stressed

LAHORE: On the eve of International Brain Tumour Day, renowned Neuro Surgeon Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood has said that commemoration of the day is aimed at creating awareness about brain tumours among the general public.

He said, "Unfortunately, we do not have central tumour registry for our population while in America 22 cases per one lac population of brain tumours surface and, out of these, one third are malignant and two thirds non-malignant."

According to a handout issued here on Thursday, Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood, talking about symptoms of brain tumours, said these could be headaches, problems with vision, epilepsy, stroke, personality changes and drowsiness and, if not diagnosed early, might lead to comatose condition. He said that great improvement in treatment of brain tumours in Pakistan had occurred and especially in Punjab Institute of Neuro Sciences of Lahore General Hospital modern ways had been adopted and latest diagnostic and operative facilities were available there for the complicated surgery.

Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood said that generally in expert hands, mortality rate in most of brain tumours surgeries was less than 5 per cent. He said that contrast CT scan of brain was widely available. Furthermore, in Lahore General Hospital, 3 Tesla MRI is also being provided for the general public.

He claimed that there were more than 100 types of brain tumours which started from childhood to different age sections. He said a neurosurgeon should operate in a way as to steal away tumour from brain during surgery, meaning that rest of the brain should remain undisturbed.

Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood said they had also started painless but awake brain tumour surgery. He asked the patients not to be afraid of the complex problems and face it with courage and strength.

Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood concluded the doctors should affirm their belief to serve the ailing humanity with new spirit and work on latest research and medical treatment. ITU to hold boot-camp for kids: WhizKids, a joint initiative of Information Technology University (ITU) and Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), is holding a three-week Innovation Station Boot-camp from July 3 to 20, designed for the underserved kids/students of a school at Youhanabad.

According to a press release, the aim of the Innovation Station Boot-camp is to inculcate the spirit of hands-on-learning and creative problem solving among young students. It will focus on skills development based on the need of today’s ever-changing technological landscape.

The students will learn these skills by going through the preliminary stages of product development, in which they will learn to think creatively, build rapid prototypes, test them with users, and improve their designs through feedback-based iterations.

The camp will commence on July 3 with a session focusing on creative thinking. Introduction to robotics, programming, sketching, design-thinking and personal development will follow in the following days and weeks.

Dr Umar Saif, Vice Chancellor, Information Technology University; and Chairman, Punjab Information Technology Board, is personally involved in the planning of the event. Dr Saif sees the teaching of these technical and creative skills and the programme multi-disciplinary nature, as a precursor to the development of a multitude of similar programs across the country in the coming years.

A widespread development of these programs would help Pakistan’s youth be better prepared for the technology-driven global economy, Dr Saif remarked. arrested: Barki investigation police arrested a man on charges of attempting to rape a five-year-old girl. The accused identified as Shabbir had approached the girl (Z) playing outside her house, took her to his place and attempted to rape her.